Residents of Leiden Wanted: Research on the Sense of Safety in Leiden Starts

How safe do you feel when walking on the streets of Leiden? Do you feel secure, or are there situations that make you feel unsafe in the city? These are the questions that urban criminologist, Marianne Franken of Leiden University wants to answer. In collaboration with the municipality of Leiden and the police, she will conduct research on the sense of safety in the city for at least four years. Leiden residents will be able to participate in the study.

It's simple: residents who want to participate in the research can fill out an online questionnaire. The completed questionnaires are completely anonymous and provide insight into the city’s state when it comes to sense of safety. This research is really about the people of Leiden. This is an announcement to those who live in the city and consider safety important: "Join us, because we need you."

How can I participate in the research?

Go here for the link to the questionnaire (or click on the button below). Once you have completed the questionnaire, your participation is done.

Important to know:

• You must live in Leiden to participate.

• You must be at least 18 years old.

• Completing the questionnaire takes approximately 30 minutes.

• Participation is completely anonymous, and your privacy is guaranteed.

• After participating, you will be kept informed of the progress of the research. A presentation of the first results will be made in July.

• Would you like to contribute more to the research? You can choose to fill out questionnaires more often, but that is not necessary.

What do Leiden residents get out of this research?

"What I particularly want to emphasize is that the answers of Leiden residents can really lead to change in the city," says Franken. "If there are certain circumstances on the street that make Leiden residents feel unsafe, the municipality and the police can see if and how something can be done about it. At the same time, we can learn from places in the city where Leiden residents do feel safe, and ask: why?"

Mayor Henri Lenferink is eagerly anticipating the results of the research and hopes that Leiden residents will participate en masse. "We already know a lot about the sense of safety thanks to surveys such as the safety monitor (veiligheidsmonitor) that is carried out every two years, but that is a snapshot. This longer-running study offers us the unique opportunity to delve deeper into the matter and find explanations. Because in addition to the general perception of safety in the city and neighbourhood, this research also measures the sense of safety in specific situations. Residents can indicate where they felt safe, unsafe, or cautious in the past 24 hours and identify the characteristics of such a situation. This gives us insight into these situations. We can then implement interventions and test them."

Marieke van den Bosch, sector head of Police Leiden-Bollenstreek, says, "The sense of safety is very broad. Even if you have never been a victim of a crime, you can still feel unsafe. Conversely, not everyone who has, for example, experienced a break-in feels unsafe in the city. The research will help us get the broadest possible picture of how safety is experienced in Leiden so that we can make targeted choices together with the municipality in the future."