Riitta Koivisto - Rikoksentorjuntaneuvosto

So if these intentions bear any relation to what these people will actually do as a witness to violence in the
street, this is a very good campaign result.
Main features
If you ask me what would be criteria for the success of such a campaign, I would say that a very important
feature is:
• The fact that many people were interested in the subject of violence in the street;
• The very clear and direct instructions it gives witnesses to violence. What can you do? This is what
you can do!
• Many people had come to feel that dialling 112 is not enough, they should be able to do more.
Especially because in the precious time it takes for the police to arrive, the victim may already be
dead.
Testing, testing, testing
For me the whole process of creating this campaign has been an eye opener. I am not a communications
professional, but a policy maker. What are the factors in the creation process that make a campaign a
success? I am convinced this has to do with testing your ideas and your creations. Over and over again. Be
prepared to make changes, let go of ‘brilliant’ ideas that turn out not to work, be prepared to kill your darlings.
Brainstorm
Our first meeting was a brainstorm session with policy makers and communication professionals and the
representatives of Meld Geweld. What can be done to stop violence in the street? What can we ask our
fellow citizens to do? What can government ask citizens to do? How do we make sure our fellow citizens do
not put themselves in danger? Several concepts and ideas emerged:
• Sometimes it is possible to predict escalation of a conflict into violence. You ‘can see it coming for miles’.
Maybe you can intervene even before the first blow is struck;
• Making a lot of noise or doing something completely unexpected or out of character can sometimes
distract a suspect. This would stop the violence;
• A group of people can do more than an individual. Plus there is less of a risk in not acting alone. Several
Dutch cases of ‘senseless violence’ started with someone commenting on the aggressive behaviour of a
stranger towards someone else. Young people frequently go out in groups;
• It is not always clear who is the victim and who is the suspect.
Non-violent fight is private
What do our citizens think of these ideas? We asked two groups of 8 people, one aged about 18 to 30 years
old and one 30 to 50 to discuss what they might be able to do to stop the violence. Calling 112 would not
help much in a direct sense, they agreed, because the violent encounters usually last just a couple of
minutes; the damage will already be done once the police arrives on the scene. Making a lot of noise did
appeal to some, but not to all. Intervening in a conflict to prevent escalation appealed to some of the older
citizens, but the youngsters agreed that any kind of conflict, argument or row was a strictly private matter,
even if it occurred in the middle of the street.
So our initial idea to include intervention before a conflict would escalate into violence was the first of many
to be voted off.
Cartoon characters
Apart from our discussion of the content of the message, there was the matter of form. The previous
campaign was highly stylised and artistic; it showed a personal object, like a pair of glasses or a walkman
crashing on the sidewalk as a symbol of someone being attacked and then it continued by telling the viewers
in words to dial 112, etc. How to convey the message about forming a group and acting together? Two
concepts were created: one with the old style (with no people in it) and another with cartoon characters.
Ultimately we decided to abandon the artistic concept that was used in 2001 and 2002. We regretted this,
but it just wouldn’t work. In stead we chose the cartoon characters to relay our message to the public. Actors,
real people, would be an alternative, but the violence might be too realistic to be broadcast before 10 p.m.
We showed the concept with our tips 4 and 5 to 20 people. It appealed to them:
• When alone, yell ‘fire’ or ‘police’ or anything to distract the suspect;
• When not alone, get some people together and intervene any way you can.
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