13-12-2005

Hoog Catharijne and the Utrecht Station District have become significantly safer since the introduction of a wide range of measures, which first started in 2001. Crime and nuisance rates have halved. Security perception has improved by 25%. The district is cleaner and 'more whole'. The living circumstances of present drug addicts have improved significantly. Both the remarkable concrete results and the cooperation between public and private partners prompted the jury to award the 2005 ECPA to Utrecht.

The improvements in security and quality of life are the result of numerous measures that can be summarized as both tough and social: aimed at reducing nuisance and crime rates and improving the living circumstances of addicts in Utrecht. What has made this approach effective is the combination of prevention, care and repression. Moreover, the policy is targeted at making the Station District clean and whole again. An intensive cooperation between the public and private sector, supervised by the municipality, has been in place since the middle of 2001. Prompted by the necessity to tackle nuisance caused by these addicts, the public-private cooperation initiated also proved useful in dealing with nuisance caused by youngsters as well as calamities and terrorism. Partners involved are the municipality, the police, the Public Prosecutor's Office, national railway services, Corio, Jaarbeurs, Centrum Maliebaan, Altrecht, Agis, bus companies, shopkeepers, offices, residents and many others.