Developments in local public safety policy: a comparison between Antwerp and Rotterdam

This chapter discusses two cities that both have set trends in their respective countries in terms of local public safety policy: Antwerp and Rotterdam. Each city has developed new methods for confronting old and new safety problems, since traditional methods are long out of date. Both cities are (i) working on improving the level of cooperation between separate authorities and organisations and the cooperation with civilians, (ii) creating a structural approach to tackle the lack of safety rather than on tackling separate incidents, (iii) increasing the level of performance orientation and (iv) a more integrated approach to safety problems. However, besides these similarities, there are also differences between the two cities.