In 2017, the Crisis Management Centre operated around the clock, coordinating the activities of guards, services, inspections and business entities in crisis and extraordinary situations.

Crisis Management Centre

The Crisis Management Centre ensures, on behalf of the Mayor of Poznań, the continuity of the decision-making process in crisis situations, provides the necessary data and conducts analyses and simulations regarding the response management in such situations.

In 2017, task modules were introduced by way of Order 273/2017/P of the Mayor of the City of Poznań regarding the scope of activities carried out in each alert state. The modules define tasks to be completed by the directors of departments and offices of the Poznań City Hall as well as those to be implemented by the heads of municipal organisational units, that are to ensure the security of customers while minimising the effects of terrorist or sabotage attacks.

Measures regarding crisis management and public safety and order

The most important measures carried out in 2017 in the field of crisis management and public safety and order included:

coordination of the elimination of the effects of avian influenza – carcasses of wild birds in the area of the Rusałka lake were removed and transferred for utilisation
eliminating threats posed by wild animals – continuous operations
dispatching and paying for the use of MPK buses to provide a temporary waiting space until the end of rescue operations – 7 cases
providing a temporary place of stay for people evacuated from burnt or damaged buildings – 13 people up to 14 days
providing the Poznań Municipal Police with packages for evacuees and homeless people – 180 pcs.
sensing warning messages and alerts – 99 cases.

The O!strzegator message system was launched in the Poznań City Hall as a test access service under an unpaid contract. The system enables sending messages from users (that have O!Strzegator installed on their phones) to defined recipients (municipal units, departments of the Poznań City Hall). The application does not require user registration and enables sending information to recipients located in a specific area of the city (within the incident’s reach or located in a specific place).

Preventive projects

In 2017, measures aimed at improving security, ensuring public order, mitigating phenomena causing arduousness to residents, and extending the participation of various services in eliminating undesirable situations were continued. The implemented projects included: projects addressed to:

children and adolescents:
- “Safe Preschooler Academy”
- “Junior high school students cheer on in a safe way”
- “School free from drugs and violence”
- “I know how to save life”
seniors:
- “Safe life for seniors”
- “Poznań Academy of Security”
- “Seniors in Poznań”
- “Aging-friendly city”.

As part of the “Safe Woman Academy” project, a series of theoretical and practical workshops aimed at improving women’s security in everyday life was carried out.

A number of preventive and educational activities related to safety in water areas were organised.

In 2017, as part of the “Poznań bike – safe bike” programme, nearly 3 thousand bicycles were marked (since the beginning of the programme, i.e. March 2014, 18 thousand bicycles have been marked).

Poznań CCTV Monitoring System

The Poznań CCTV Monitoring System is one of the measures, initiated jointly by the City and the Poznań Police Headquarters, aimed at improving public safety and order in the city. The 24/7 viewing of camera recordings makes it possible, in some cases, to catch perpetrators of crimes and misdemeanours “red handed”.

Images from most of the cameras are viewed 24 hours a day by civil employees of the Poznań Municipal Police in 5 viewing centres established at police stations. Due to the renovation of the building of the Poznań-Stare Miasto Police Station, the viewing centre located in this facility was moved to the Poznań-Grunwald Police Station.

Responsibility for other cameras used as part of the municipal monitoring system, in particular those installed along Franowo tram route and at Górczyn terminal station, rests, among others, on Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne w Poznaniu Sp. z o.o. and the Municipal Roads Authority in Poznań.

In 2017, as part of the “Infrastructure of Technical Security and Public Order Systems and Poznań CCTV Monitoring System”, 24 new camera points were installed and launched. The total cost of their construction amounted to over PLN 850 thousand. Moreover, as part of other projects implemented by the City of Poznań, the Poznań CCTV Monitoring System was expanded by 19 new camera points.

The new cameras were installed in the following locations:

intersections of the following streets: Rybaki and Strzałowa, Garbary and Krakowska, Składowa and Dworcowy bridge, as well as at 10 Krańcowa Street next to the shelter for the homeless
Rataje neighbourhood – the necessary teletechnical infrastructure was built, and 17 cameras were installed and launched: 12 revolving ones, 4 fixed ones and a panoramic one, in 13 new locations (7 in Górny Taras Rataj and 6 in Dolny Taras Rataj neighbourhoods).

The extension of the system with further camera points has contributed to the decline in the total number of reported crimes in almost all analysed categories of crimes (except burglaries). In 2017, the number of reported crimes dropped by 11.9%.

The system is used by the command centre of the Poznań Police Headquarters. Handling interventions reported by phone (to 997 emergency telephone number), officers on duty at the command centre of the Poznań Police Headquarters can verify in advance the intervention scene and the threat scale, as well as potential perpetrators of offences and crimes. Recordings from the CCTV monitoring system are also used as evidence in proceedings and help officers handling traffic incidents to determine the perpetrators of collisions and accidents.

The system is also used to secure mass events. With the proper location of the cameras, a larger area can be monitored to provide any information on threats to the command centre on an ongoing basis.