The Multilevel Analytic Process for Situational Prevention (MAPS): Implementing a New Methodology for Port Security and Counter-Piracy Measures
Abstract
During the last ten years, issues connected to security (or organisational resilience) have become more and more relevant. After years of research, data gathering and analysis, and after the first proposed and implemented solutions, it is actually clear that this issue is highly relevant worldwide and necessitates a multilevel and multidisciplinary approach. In fact, criminal, geopolitical, social, cultural and, in some cases, religious issues are deeply involved in criminal phenomena, connected to local political instabilities, poverty, and terrorism as well as organised crime and piracy. Only a new methodology, aimed at a global approach to this problem, and strictly practical-oriented, can help us to implement quick and effective solutions, especially if a situational prevention approach is adopted as a main guideline. In this paper, a global and integrated methodology is presented. This methodology adopts different techniques, software and approaches to support decision makers according to the following phases: 1) data gathering and analysis; 2) realisation of integrated situational prevention solutions; 3) validation of these solutions; 4) final validated, integrated situational prevention solutions. Different aspects are involved in this new methodology, originally developed for maritime security and anti-piracy activities, and there are different possible outcomes as well as various fields in which it can be used for security and crime prevention.