Safeplaces West (Säkraplatser Väst) was established in January 2018 and has, since 2020, had its academic home at the Academy of Police Work at the University of Borås. SäkraPlatser Väst can be described as the western node of the national Safe Places network based at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).

SäkraPlatser Väst aims to serve as a meeting point for those who work with, or have an interest in, situational crime prevention. It functions as a hub for knowledge exchange between academics, police officers, municipal employees, and various private and public actors involved in crime prevention and safety-related work. The network currently includes representatives from academia, the Greater Gothenburg Fire and Rescue Service, the Police Region West, the Västra Götaland Region (VGR), the County Administrative Boards of Västra Götaland and Halland, Göta Lejon Insurance AB, the Swedish Transport Administration, the business sector, and a selection of municipalities in western Sweden.

Even before SäkraPlatser Väst was formally established, several actors in the Gothenburg region had already begun collaborating on issues related to situational crime prevention, as well as on broader questions concerning built-environment approaches to crime prevention (e.g., CPTED). Parts of this earlier network were also connected to the local crime prevention council Tryggare, mänskligare Göteborg, which previously existed in Gothenburg.

Many participants in these earlier forums felt that there was a strong need for collaboration and that some form of organization or structure was required. SäkraPlatser Väst thus became the meeting place needed to develop both professional competence and the capacity of each participating organization. It also strengthened collaboration within the established group, enabling more effective and practical solutions in crime prevention and safety work. The establishment of the national Safe Places network at KTH the year before served as an important source of inspiration and created an opportunity to form the western node with links to both national and local issues.

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