This week, Olivia chats with the Risk Manager Inès Boubaker at Paris City Hall, who is in charge of the municipal police and security policy.
With police forces in many local governments coming under major scrutiny, we'll hear how one government is looking at risk management, crisis management, internal audit, and ultimately ways to improve resiliency to drive impactful and equitable policing.
Featured government: Paris, France
Episode Guest: Inès Boubaker, Risk Manager, Paris City Hall
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Lindsay: (00:05)
Welcome to the Govlaunch podcast. Govlaunch is the Wiki for local government innovation and on this podcast, we're sharing the stories of local government innovators and their efforts to build smarter governments. I'm Lindsay Pica-Alfano, co-founder of Govlaunch and your host. This week, Olivia chats with the risk manager at Paris city hall in charge of the municipal police and security policy. With police forces in many local governments coming under major scrutiny, we'll hear how one government is looking at risk management, crisis management, internal audit, and ultimately ways to improve resiliency to drive impactful and equitable policing.
Olivia: (00:47)
Hi, I'm Olivia from Govlaunch and I'm here with Inès Boubaker from Paris, France. Inès, tell us a little about yourself.
Inès: (00:54)
Hi, thank you for having me. I'm really happy to share my experience here. So I'm Inès. I am, am Parisian, so I am a Paris graduate in international development, and I specialize in global risks and territorial urban resilience. And I'm currently working as the risk manager of the municipal police department in Paris city hall.
Olivia: (01:18)
So you studied global risks. Sciences Po has a lot of international diplomacy, international public policy. And here you are working for your local government for your municipality in that same space. What brought you to that local environment?
Inès: (01:37)
So the idea before was to work on systemic risks at a global scale, but with the internships that I did, and especially in the UN, I realized that I wanted to be more local and to be closer to the policy impacts that we could have. So I decided to work for, for the, the inner minister first, and then I went to Paris city hall. And because Paris is so specific in terms of, you know, policy management. So yeah, it's, it's a pleasure to work on risk in this city.
Olivia: (02:10)
That's really exciting. I also had a similar trajectory in that I worked for the UN and actually worked for UN habitat, which focused, even though it was a global diplomacy, it still had that local government local lens to it, and then just fell in love with the local level of public policy making. So really interesting that you experienced something similar as well. In terms of your work, it focuses primarily on managing risk in the realm of community safety. Could you give us a couple of examples of specific policies that you're focused on these days?
Inès: (02:40)
Okay. So to give you an idea, so Paris first is more than 2 million inhabitants. It's 70,000 civil servants. So it's a huge municipality by far the biggest in France. And so we have 20 directions or yeah, services, we would say, and I have three main roles for my departments, which are first risk management. So I work on risk prevention, but also crisis management and everything around anticipation. Then I'm also the internal controller for my department. So it means that I'm leading controls on HR data or budget processes. And I'm also the reference person for data protection. So this role is more about supporting our other departments just to help them regarding the creation of soft, especially on the operational area of municipal policy. So making sure that everything is compliance
Olivia: (03:41)
Very interesting. So data compliance is at the heart of what you do to some extent, and you're working in community safety, policing, those areas. Is there an element of your work that focuses on bringing together different data sets or thinking about all the different areas of the local government space that would have an impact on community safety? You look at governance. Do you also look at bringing together different data sets? Is there a way of measuring risk that would bring together different areas of service delivery for the city of Paris? For example, can you touch a little bit more on that?
Inès: (04:20)
So my work is not specifically on data, but we use data to prevent risks. So for instance, the methodology is the most used in risk management is risk mapping. So specifically we identify the main risks that can be, you know, either legal, operational, budgetary, however, and then we try to evaluate their degree, uh, well, their impact first and also their priority level, just to then be able to conceive a action plan, to reduce the impact of those risks and also to prevent them. And so the objective, for instance, in my department is to be able to work on a reform that is creating at the municipal policy, which is creating it a few months ago. And the, the goal was to be able to anticipate risks because we were changing a lot of organizational processes in my department. So the method is kind of technical, but it's rather simple in the end really risk mapping and then overcome silos because the idea is to make services work together, to enhance, you know, policy coherence and reduce risks impacts.
Olivia: (05:33)
That's really interesting because I feel as though in local government, we often view our silos as the status quo and the status quo is viewed in a very flood way as being the most risk free approach. Even though we know that the status quo isn't always risk free and there's some work that you're doing to unpack some of that and think about working collaboratively as actually a way to mitigate risk. What are some of your tactical strategies and being really candid, sometimes being young in local government, starting out your career public sector has its flaws in one of them is sometimes that light ageism in some areas, at least anecdotally, from what I've experienced, it'd be really good to know about your strategies being in this space, breaking down silos. How do you go about doing that in your day to day?
Inès: (06:24)
Well, I think it's a day to day chat because commonly departments are not working together. And it's really what I think is most interesting in resilience and in the concept of risk litigation and management, because you think about a cycle, you think about a whole system and this can apply to, you know, the Paris city hall, but also in a corporation or public services in, in general. And so the, the idea of thinking about system and so systemic risks and how you can mitigate them because they are either legal or budgetary or operational or whatever, it's, it's really challenging. And, and what is, I think really interesting is to push services, to work together. It's not always easy, but you have to, you know, convince them about the multiple benefits of, of this work together. And I think it's, it's really impactful.
Olivia: (07:25)
That's not an easy task to do. So when we think about strong and thriving communities, oftentimes that requires a comprehensive suite of policies and support just beyond your classic policing. And when we think about policing in many cities around the world coming under major scrutiny in recent times, how has your team adapted to ensure its approach is very community centric and really thinking about risk in a way that is comprehensive and holistic and takes into account lots of different factors when it comes to crime and, and safety in a big, diverse, complicated city like Paris.
Inès: (08:00)
So first a little bit of context because Paris was one of the last big cities in France without a municipal poly. It, it was a historical legacy from the French revolution. So this creation was a huge commitment from the mayor. And of course there were a lot of expectations about it. So I did not really intervene in the operational process of creation, but as a risk manager, what was really important was to be able to anticipate first the risk that could be Howard's our agents, our civil servants as police officers, but also to work on the, the, the expectations of the population. And as you said, of course, there, there are lots. And what is really difficult is also to explain our role because the municipal police is not a police that can work, you know, on crime. For instance, it's very different from the police courses that we all know, and that are national, usually, maybe not in Canada or, um, America globally, but in France, it's, it's a national organization. So it's, it's really about adapting to the expectations that are of course, very, very important because Paris is a capital city. So of course there are security issues, but we also have to make sure that all the actors are playing their roles. And that's a big challenge for us.
Olivia: (09:30)
Very interesting. Now that we've set this stage, I'd love to chat more about your role as a risk manager. So when we think about managing risk, that can sometimes be viewed at being at odds with innovation, but your team are doing some incredible work, very groundbreaking work, and you're tackling also some systemic issues as well. So let's start with the basics. How are risk managers in Paris city hall integrated to various internal networks? And how are these folks contributing to improving the way things are done in your local government?
Inès: (10:02)
So basically the risk managers network work with one risk manager per department. And so the executive management, which is the secretary general manages the whole network, but because I'm, I play multiple roles, as I said, I'm also integrated in two other networks. So it's very important because when we talk about policy co and policy effectiveness, I think being integrated in different networks and being able to, you know, overcome silos, but not only in your own department, but also with other departments, because they're working on, you know, the, the roads, the schools, green spaces, everything that can be very technical, but it's really interesting because we all, you know, um, manage the same type of risks in the end. And we, uh, face the same type of fragility or vulnerability. So the tools that we use, uh, can give another view of how the system works and how it can be vulnerable to some type of risks and it can be applied to all type of systems. So that's, that's really interesting. And I think it's a real strength for Paris city hall to have this work as a net in, in the whole organization.
Olivia: (11:17)
That's great Ines. And I also know that you worked on the resilient strategy for the city of Paris as well. And that's another great example of taking something that impacts lots of different departments and service delivery areas. And it also ties back to your role right now, managing risk for city of Paris's police. Could you walk us through the resilience strategy that the development and how it's still playing a role currently in the different hats that you wear at the, at city hall?
Inès: (11:47)
Okay. So yeah, indeed I was working on the resilience strategy in 2017. So it's already, it's been five years. Yeah. Globally. I, I decided to link security with climate because I thought it was really interesting and, you know, policing coherence and effectiveness to work on those two notions together. And the link was resilience because I think when you work on mitigating risks, what is interesting is to work on the system and not only on the specific risks you are targeting. So the OB, the objective of the resilience concept was to, you know, have a resilience officer position funded for two years by the, not the international network hundred resilience cities. And the objective was to create design a resilience strategy for Paris. So we basically worked on the priority risks for Paris, and then we try to define an action plan to, you know, mitigate this risk, but also to enhance resilience and resilience is about, of course, your Ben system, but also about, you know, social links. So that that's the, the real plus the real interest of, of resilience as a concept. I think.
Olivia: (13:05)
So what are some of the initial benefits that this resilience strategy and work has shown for the city of Paris?
Inès: (13:12)
So basically the strategy relies on a vision, which is that Paris relies on its residence, its infrastructures, and mobilize its collective intelligence and the territories to, you know, turn the challenges into opportunities. And that was really the, the motto of the strategy to be able to, you know, focus on our risks or vulnerabilities, but also turn them into opportunities. For instance, when we know that Paris is really vulnerable to flooding, we can think that this risk can be turned into an opportunity of changing the way we plan our city, the way we work about the, you know, circulation, transportation, et cetera. So we have this vision and then we have the action plan with three pillars objectives and 35 actions. And this actions have been put in place by the different departments of the city hall. And the idea was really the challenge was to make all the departments work together. And I think we, we succeeded because we also worked in with a participatory approach. So the departments conceived, designed the strategy with us, and we also tried to employ Parisians.
Olivia: (14:30)
Fantastic. So it sounds like the goal and thread in a lot of your work is about bringing together the departments and the different areas of the city of Paris to work towards a common goal, whether that's adopting a resilience strategy, managing risk, but really thinking about doing things differently in lots of different ways. So how does the resilience strategy impact your team currently working on policing specifically?
Inès: (14:53)
So the municipal policy was a commitment from the mayor and it was just created because it was in January 2022. So, so yeah, a few months ago only. So there was no specific action about, uh, the municipal police, of course, but it was more about of course the feeling of insecurity in the city, but also how we create, uh, more solidarity, more social links between inhabitants and my department is not the only one involved in those type of actions. But I would say that we also work on training Paris volunteers who are like a civic reserve. So we train them in crisis management. So that can be our role.
Olivia: (15:45)
Excellent, so engaging departments, community. Fantastic. So your passion for crisis management is really obvious. What advice would you share with local governments looking to innovate in their security policies. In some ways, because the police is so new in Paris, you had a blank canvas. Do you have any key advice, words of wisdom you’d like to impart on our audience today?
Inès: (16:11)
I think what is really important of course is to take into account the expectations of your inhabitants, because of course, in terms of security and safety, there are a lot of expectations, but also I think when you drive this kind of reform, which is of course a huge change and creation for a city like Paris or whatever city, it's really important to be able to anticipate what will be your activity in the next few months and few years, what will be the big challenges in terms of, you know, operational activity, but also in terms of recruitment in terms of, you know, budgetary impacts and technical as well. And, and so I would, I would really say that the, the tools that we use in risk managements are really, uh, really impactful, uh, to be able to think, uh, about the reform and the city as a system and, and not only as, you know, um, a unique departments, but really, there's always this idea of overcoming silos and working in society.
Olivia: (17:15)
Very exciting, shifting gears a bit. Do you know of any other standout innovation in another local authority, we should check out. In other words, what other cities are doing cool work right now?
Inès: (17:27)
So I would give two. I really like one project in Melbourne, which is about vacant public spaces. So they basically worked to bring decision policies, decision making processes, closer to the people. And the idea was to, you know, rethink public spaces, especially the vacant ones and have participatory processes to create new spaces and new uses of public spaces. And we also did that in Paris with the reinventing, the seven places projects. It was, it was kind of the same idea and objective. So I, I really like this, this project and also because it's, you know, part of the sustainable development goals to have a place based approach of policy and development. So I think it's really impactful. And I also really like the water square in Rotterdam. Maybe you already know it, but it's, it has multiple benefits because it has a twofold strategy basically.
Inès: (18:29)
So it's a public space, but it's also a storm water storage. And it, its goal is to combine those two uses in one space. And basically you have a nudge strategy to, you know, have color codes that can be used to identify the flood zones, but you also had a participatory design. And so this public space is also when the water is dry. It can also be used as skatepark rings or basketball courts. So it's really all about preventing, mitigating risks, raising awareness on them and on vulnerability, but also creates a public space that can be used for solidarity and creating links. So I think it's, you know, a symbol of resilience.
Olivia: (19:17)
Yeah. Two solid examples. And at the root cause of a lot of risks, I'm sure that we think about resilience policing, anything that a local government works on, the, a root cause of a major source of stress risk is of course climate change. And I know that beyond just your work with the city of Paris, you're very passionate about tackling climate change in lots of different ways. Do you wanna tell us a little bit more about some of those projects and perhaps link it back to some of the work that you do for the city of Paris as well?
Inès: (19:46)
Yeah, so basically for instance, when you work on risks, it's very interesting to distinguish different type of risks. For instance, you have of course, major risks like flooding or terrorist attacks, for instance, that are, you know, creating a major crisis in the city and on the urban system. But you also have what we call chronic stresses like pollution, for instance, or climate change as a, as a whole, because it can be enhancing vulnerability in the city and it, so it can be also a source of fragility for the system. So it was really interesting to, you know, capitalize on Paris, DNA, and Paris history about, you know, this model of Paris that is in Latin Maggie tool, which means that the boat, which symbolizes the city can of course be, you know, drawn by the, the storms, but never floats. Do we safe floats. Yeah.
Inès: (20:45)
Yeah. And so it, it, it has been used for the reverse end historically, but it also has been reused spontaneously after the terrorist attacks in 2015. So there are really, I think, I mean the resilience concept can really be applied to a city as a concept. And so linking climates to security and to preventing risks. And the methodology that we use I think is really a game changer as the local level. And that's also why it was engaged and committed as a women for climate in Paris. Because I think the two topics are really linked.
Olivia: (21:24)
Absolutely. Lastly, what's something that excites you about the future of civic innovation in the city of Paris.
Inès: (21:33)
So I would say that what is the most exciting is of course having meaningful impacts. So I would say maybe two projects, one is more technical. It's about safety and the Olympic games in 2024 and how we can, you know, prepare Paris for this huge event. And there's also another project, which is really important to me about the training of Paris volunteers, which is, you know, a two module training on crisis management resilience, but also crisis communication and how we can use social media as a tool to, you know, find information during crisis and also to raise awareness about our vulnerabilities and how we can be an actor in the resilience strategy. So I would say those are the two main projects that are really exciting right now.
Olivia: (22:28)
There is lots to look forward to in terms of projects that you're working on Ines and the great work that your team is doing to manage risk effectively and to do while you're added some pretty impressive systems change. We're looking forward to seeing many more cities adopt some creative ways by which they manage their risks. Thank you so much for joining us Ines and for sharing with us, your projects, your passion areas for the city of Paris and everything in between.
Inès: (22:53)
Thank you so much for having me.
Lindsay: (23:00)
I'm Lindsay Pica-Alfano and this podcast was produced by Govlaunch, the Wiki for local government innovation. You can subscribe to hear more stories like this, wherever you get your podcast. If you're a local government innovator, we hope you'll help us on our mission to build the largest free resource for local governments globally. You can join to search and contribute to the wiki@govlaunch.com. Thanks for tuning in. We hope to see you next time on the Govlaunch podcast.