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On May 12 and 13, 2014 the 8th Annual International Forum (AIF) within the 19th German Congress on Crime Prevention (GCOCP) will take place at the City Hall in Karlsruhe, Germany.

On Monday, May 12, the AIF will present lectures in English language of international crime prevention experts. In cooperation with the European Forum for Urban Security (Efus) Tuesday, May 13, will be the day of debates on "Europe and prevention: the needs of local decision makers and practitioners". 2014 is the year of the European elections, the renewal of the European Commission, a new programme cycle and discussions about a new European Justice and Home Affairs programme. This conference represents an opportunity to discuss both the European dimension of local crime prevention and European policies. In relation to its Aubervilliers and Saint-Denis manifesto “Security, Democracy, and Cities” Efus wants to debate the follow-up to the Stockholm programme and make the opinions of its member cities and regions be heard.

International, non-German speaking participants, can also join the GCOCP: Hear the opening and closing plenum (English simultaneous translation), experience the exhibition (where over 150 institutions displaying their work), and take part in the evening reception. Since the GCOCP is one of the biggest congresses in crime prevention with over 3.000 participants every year since 1995 in different German cities, this is your chance to network and discover new approaches in crime prevention.

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Announcing a new, upgraded website for the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund (NDLERF).

The site now fully searchable, easier to navigate and allows for subject filtering. It is also compatible with mobile devices.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fundpromotes quality evidence-based practice in drug law enforcement to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of licit and illicit drug use in Australian society. A key aim of NDLERF is to promote collaboration between the Law Enforcement Sector and Researchers.

Accessible at ndlerf.gov.auor from the NDLERF button on the Australian Institute of Criminology homepage.

Amnesty International

As Greece faces its sixth year of deep economic crisis, police responses to social tensions continue to flout international human rights law. A series of police-implemented state policies and police raids at Roma settlements have led to a rise in human rights violations such as racial profiling and arbitrary detention. These abuses are taking place against a background of a steep increase of racially motivated attacks. Successive Greek governments have failed to acknowledge the scale and systematic nature of human rights violations by law enforcement officials and entrenched impunity.

Online communities (OLCs) are increasingly being recognised as a way of sharing ideas and knowledge among different practitioner communities, particularly when practitioners are not able to meet face to face. OLCs are not necessarily difficult to establish, but ongoing maintenance and sustainability may prove challenging.

Their benefit is their potential to facilitate greater knowledge dissemination within what is typically a fragmented and diverse crime prevention sector and to therefore play a significant role in improving the uptake of evidence-based strategies and good practice.

This paper explores the considerations associated with establishing online communities for crime prevention practitioners, drawing on research from across the community of practice, online community and knowledge management sectors.

The paper also provides an overview of the administrative considerations of online community development, as well as the key barriers and enablers to practitioner engagement in an online community, and the potential implications for a crime prevention-specific practitioner community.

The paper also has a broader application to practitioners in other disciplines who may be considering the use of online technology to disseminate knowledge.

At the 57th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which concluded toward the end of March, Member States adopted 11 resolutions covering such drug policy issues as alternative development, substance use disorders, new psychoactive substances, adequate services for drug abusers and evidence-based drug use prevention. This year's CND was preceded by a High-Level Review and agreement on a Joint Ministerial Statement on the world drug problem. The regular session of the CND meanwhile brought together as many as 1,300 participants from 127 UN Member States, intergovernmental organizations, UN bodies, civil society, and the media.