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Public Security

The rise of transnational crime and terrorism has challenged national security and law-enforcement arrangements. Indeed, the dynamics of transnational crime underscores the need for closer coordination between agencies, across orders of government, and across national borders. As a result, the ever-expanding public security agenda in federal countries has shown that no order of government and no one agency is equipped to confront these challenges on its own. Clearly the federal government is better equipped to perform some functions, whereas others are better left to local entities. Without innovative modes of intergovernmental and interdepartmental cooperation, federal agencies risk dissipating federal governments’ energies, while eroding the value added and flexibility contributed by local entities.
The aim of this program therefore is to foster an exchange of experience on the management of public security in federal contexts. In particular, the project seeks to promote mutual learning about the challenges of coordination between multiple orders of government (including the role of community policing) and the challenges of security reforms aimed at improving coordination between agencies, orders of government, and federal countries. The multi-year project will bring together practitioners, academics and public servants from federal countries for discussions designed to:

build professional relationships,
learn about each other’s systems,
share the successes and lessons learned of each federation’s systems and processes,
form future working groups to identify and compare successes and problems of security, policing, and police reform , and
identify relevant experiences from other federal countries as they relate to policy issues in their own countries.

The first phase of this program has focused on the three federations of North America. The choice of these three countries is shaped by geography, their federal governing arrangements, and consequently their shared security concerns. To date, the Forum has organized two closed-door workshops in North America: the first took place in Washington D.C. (November 2009) followed by a second meeting in Tijuana, Mexico (March 2010). These events brought together experts, policy-makers and uniformed officers from Canada, Mexico and the United States to discuss candidly how improved coordination and policing reform have contributed to a more efficient and effective response to threats to public safety. A third workshop will take place in Canada in 2010. Subsequent phases of this program will examine security challenges and responses in other federations, including India.