How safe do Swiss citizens feels in their municipalities? The Winterthur Institute of Public Management at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences has been conducting extensive research on this issue. The findings provide the participating cities and towns with insight on necessary adaptations for the next planning period. Close cooperation between security policy officials and the institute has proven to be beneficial for planning and conducting surveys on public safety. A sound methodological procedure for the surveys using a variety of sampling techniques and methods of analysis guarantees reliable results. These results can be used to improve ‘safety benchmarking’. Comparing towns or cities provides municipal authorities with a reliable assessment of their individual performance.