Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the topic Policing, Security and Safety in Urban Communities, a topic that is increasingly of general concern in contemporary societies, integrating the political agenda of governments and, of course, being the subject of social analysis in scientific terms. The issues of policing and security in cities have received widespread attention but, at the same time, this phenomenon is far from being exhausted, so it makes perfect sense to bring together authors that are developing work in this field. Research may integrate more global or partial analysis of policing models and modalities, urban (in)security, diagnosis of local security, urban crime prevention, analysis of urban spaces and their relationship with crime prevention, community assessment regarding security aspects, including the perception of populations and authorities, and central and local/community political powers. We aim to highlight studies investigating the variables that, as indicated above, are related to policing, (in)security and crime in urban communities, considering the multidisciplinarity and plurality of the technical–scientific domains that this topic encompasses. The studies that we expect to include in this Special Issue are essentially empirical in nature, employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

References of some editor’s publications about topics related to this special issue:

Azevedo, V., Nunes, L., & Sani, A. (2022). Is Campus a Place of (In)Security and Crime? Perceptions and Predictors among Higher Education Students. European Journal of  Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 12, 193-208; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe12020015

Azevedo, V., Maia, R., Guerreiro, M., Oliveira, G., Sani, A., Caridade, S., Dinis, A., Estrada, R., Paulo, D. Magalhães, M., & Nunes, L. (2021). Looking at crime – communities and physical spaces: A curated dataset. Data in Brief, 39, 107560 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2021.107560Azevedo

Azevedo, V., Magalhães, M., Paulo, D., Maia, R., Oliveira, G., Guerreiro, M., Sani, A, & Nunes, L. (2021). Temporal variability of theft types in the Historic Centre of Porto. Social Sciences, 10(10), 371; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10100371

Azevedo, V., Sani, A., Nunes, L., & Paulo, D. (2021). Do you feel safe in the urban space? From perceptions to associated variables. Anuário de Psicología Juridica, 31(1), 75-84. https://doi.org/10.5093/apj2021a12. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/3150/315065973007/html/

Caridade, S., Sani, A. I., Nunes, L., & Dinis, A. (2020). Youth victims of community violence: developmental outcomes and prevention challenges. In M. L. Knudsen (Ed.), Victims of Violence: Support, Challenges and Outcomes (pp. 279-290). New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Gouveia, F., Sani, A., Guerreiro, M., Azevedo, V., Santos, H., & Nunes, L. (2021). Mapping CPTED parameters with the LookCrim application. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 23(3), 252–263 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41300-021-00119-9  

Sani, A., Nunes, L., Azevedo, V., & Sousa, H. (2020). Campus Criminal Victimization among Higher Education Students: A Diagnosis of Local Security in Porto. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 31(2), 250-266 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10511253.2019.1702219

Sani, A. I., Nunes, L., Caridade, S., & Azevedo, V. (2020). Violence in urban community: local diagnosis of security and victimization. In M. L. Knudsen (Ed.), Victims of Violence: Support, Challenges and Outcomes (pp. 291-314). New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Prof. Dr. Laura M. Nunes
Prof. Dr. Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis
Prof. Dr. Ana Isabel Sani
Guest Editors

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• urban criminality
• policing
• security
• safety
• community crime evaluation
• crime prevention
• environmental/spacial urban design
• urban criminal diagnosis