Community Safety - A Problem-Oriented Approach to Urban Governance: Why Jerusalem? and Why Now?

Community security is a strategic model for urban and neighborhood management designed to strengthen residents’ sense of personal safety through collaboration between municipal institutions, communities, and the police. Its core premise is that a functioning, cohesive, and resilient urban or neighborhood community increases both personal and collective security, reduces neighborhood violence, and fosters positive encounters and safe shared spaces. This management approach has become central in Western countries — particularly the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada — where legislation now supports community security and requires local authorities to engage with it. Today, many cities run ongoing community security programs, with places like Chicago, New York, London, and Toronto treating the issue as a top priority.

Israel has followed a similar — though distinct — path. The National Community Security Authority was established in 2022, built on the foundation of the former Authority for the Fight Against Drugs and Alcohol, and now operates under the Ministry of National Security. While the general concepts of community security have been absorbed into this Israeli authority, in practice it does not yet offer tailored programs or require local authorities to adopt them. Nor does it address one of the central drivers of insecurity in Israel: intergroup tension rooted in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — tension that has been especially pronounced in Jerusalem, both during and after the October 7th war.

In light of this, a new, tailored plan for Jerusalem is urgently needed. The ongoing repercussions of the October 7th war have further deepened intergroup tension in the city and heightened a shared sense of insecurity. The Jerusalem Municipality, community administrators, and other relevant city institutions are acutely aware of the toll that tension and mistrust take on the local economy, society, and urban politics. The moment calls for fresh thinking about how Jerusalem’s residents – across all of the city’s neighborhoods  – understand security in the city: What does community security mean to them? And what can they do to strengthen it? This is a troubling starting point — but also the impetus to reexamine Jerusalem’s approach to community security in a way that could inspire other Israeli cities, while honestly confronting the tensions inherent between the city’s different groups and neighborhoods: Arab and Jewish, religious and secular, longtime residents and newcomers.

The purpose of this initial document is to lay the conceptual groundwork for a community security plan in Jerusalem. It begins by defining community security — what exactly it is, how and why it developed, and where it currently stands in global policy discourse. The report then presents practical examples from cities around the world that have adopted community security policies. Building on this, it turns to policy in this area within Israel and the specific need for such an approach in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem case is examined through data distinguishing between Jewish-majority and Palestinian-majority neighborhoods, with focused examples from Beit Hanina, Kafr Aqab, French Hill, and Ramat Shlomo.

This document forms the foundation of the Jerusalem Institute’s renewed approach — one that seeks to bring a diverse range of actors into the circle of partners shaping sustainable, relevant urban policy for the city.