“Terrorism and natural disasters have led to a heightened emphasis on safety and security on both domestic and international policy agendas. The way in which the authorities respond to incidents and the extent of that response have a significant influence on the public’s overall confidence in government. This is why developing technical solutions alone is not enough: it is also vital to find ways of quantifying feelings of insecurity.
TNO’s in-house knowledge base allows it to provide information for tracking criminal and terrorist activities at an early stage. Using objective modelling techniques, it is also able to reliably estimate the effectiveness of contingency plans and emergency services. This means that the cost to society of crime and law enforcement can be calculated and that efficient action plans can be developed. Another feature is its facility for using channels of communication to influence human behaviour.
It is TNO’s areas of expertise that set it apart. These include technologies for detecting and inspecting people and goods, for filtering and analysing data streams and for improving the effectiveness of public appearances by officials while augmenting their safety. Other areas of expertise include limiting the risk profile of buildings and infrastructure and protecting the public against biological and chemical threats.
Policy choices and solutionsOur unique approach allows us to provide support to the public and private sectors in their search for cohesive policy decisions and solutions. Our target group includes various groups and organizations from government and industry whose activities focus on crime prevention and investigation, including their suppliers (security products and systems) from the manufacturing sector. It is our aim to work together on projects and programmes with these target groups within a wide spectrum of safety and security aspects. At the domestic level, our knowledge partners include organizations of note such as the Police Academy (Politieacademie), the Netherlands Fire Academy NIBRA, the Netherlands Forensic Institute NFI, the Netherlands Institute for International Relations (Clingendael) and the Universiteit van Amsterdam (Intelligent observation system).
European security strategy
Europe-wide and related national safety and security legislation are the result of the European security strategy. Many projects and programmes have been initiated for policy, technology and product development as a part of this strategy. TNO is involved with a great number of consortia in developing these initiatives. As a consequence, TNO runs bilateral projects for foreign governments and businesses. Furthermore, TNO collaborates with the Swedish institute FOI and the Austrian institute Joanneum on a structural basis. TNO was one of the parties instrumental in establishing an international network of knowledge institutes as part of the preparations for the Seventh European Framework Programme.
Research programmes
TNO is engaged in developing three research programmes on the theme of Public Safety:
* System approach and safety & security
* Intelligence and information-guided actions
* Effective and safe intervention”
