Some promising examples
San Antonio, Texas, United States
The Greater San Antonio Crime Prevention Commission
was created by municipal by-law. The Commission
is composed of 29 members representing
elected city officials, the clergy, the business sector,
health services, education, the police, the justice
system, the media, community service groups and
neighbourhood associations.
It has four priority objectives: (a) greater community
awareness and community involvement in
prevention activities (by creating the Business Crime
Council of South Texas, establishing a city department
to assist in setting up neighbourhood associations
and increasing police community activities);
(b) establishment of social, educational and recreational
services for youth (by offering a range of services,
mainly from 3 to 6 p.m., establishing a parenting
skills development programme, and committing
funds in the 1994 budget to renovate or build over
60 community centres, parks and playgrounds);
(c)increasing young offenders' sense of responsibility
(by launching a pilot project to rehabilitate
non-violent offenders, strengthening community
service programmes as an alternative to traditional
court solutions and passing a by-law on mandatory
school attendance during the day); and (d) reduction
in street violence through the prevention of domestic
violence and promotion of greater cooperation
the various levels of law enforcement (by
setting up a unit to coordinate responses to domestic
violence, providing more training for police officers
and increasing services for victims and offenders).
Cali, Colombia
In an effort to prevent violence, the city of Cali
has developed a broad range of initiatives. For
instance, it offers a small business development
programme for street vendors, youth groups and
women at home, that has been an unexpected success.
Cali is developing a non-violent culture by training
groups of young volunteers as peace promoters
who, after they have been given proper training, act
as legal counsellors to help resolve conflicts and
refer people to conciliation centres. Courses in
couple relationships and parenting are offered to the
public, and other initiatives are being taken in
schools and through the media. One of the public
awareness campaigns even convinced some shops
to take war toys off the shelves, and four youth
gangs to lay down their weapons and sign a commitment
to undergo social rehabilitation.
Delft, Netherlands
The Delft anti-crime programme is an outstanding
experiment showing how those responsible for urban
administration can contribute effectively to
crime prevention. In a low-cost housing neighbourhood
experiencing major problems of crime and degradation
of the social fabric, the city of Delft initiated a
programme based on the following actions:
- Introduction of social measures, such as the
organization of recreation for young people and
the presence of a social worker especially
assigned to the neighbourhood.
- Better supervision and improved cleanliness of
buildings, mainly through the hiring of seven
caretakers.
- Introduction of environmental modifications to
make it easier to monitor parks and streets and to
reduce vandalism and the accessibility of buildings.
- Conversion of a number of housing units,
initially intended for large families, into housing
for two or three persons in order to reduce the
abnormally high number of young people sharing
accommodation in the neighbourhood.
- Systematically consulting the residents before
adopting any proposal for change.
Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
In 1989, a steering committee on crime prevention
was set up consisting of elected officials and
directors of city services (police, probation,
chamber of commerce, community services etc.). In
addition to the development of a community safety
strategy and the establishment of the Wolverhampton
Partnership on Community Safety and Youth Crime,
the committee has implemented numerous projects
concerned with the safety of women, victim support,
car theft, violence, and youth. Its activities
include: improvement of safety in all housing units;
erection of fences in vulnerable areas; establishment
of a community hostel and hiring of a director;
establishment of a group to assist young mothers;
development of a recreational activities programme;
hiring of a person responsible for resolving disputes
between neighbours; and development of a recreation area for teenagers.
In three and a half years, burglaries dropped by 40 per cent at a time when
these offences were rising substantially elsewhere.
Moscow, Russian Federation
Crime rate in Moscow per
100,000 population, 1971-1993
In Moscow, following the completion of a joint
study by UNICRI and the research institute of the
Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation,
[7]
the mayor was presented with a plan to create an
urban crime prevention council. The council would be
responsible for gathering and analysing information,
identifying security problems, coordinating the
various social agencies, providing training, and
implementing programmes that combined multidisciplinary
approaches with short-, medium- and longterm measures.
The council would be given an initial
mandate of five years, subject to annual evaluations
and funded from the current budgets allocated to
crime suppression and the judicial system. The graph
above indicates the rapid growth of the crime rate
in Moscow and illustrates the gravity of the
challenge facing criminal justice policy makers.
Philippines
The National Council for Peace and Order in the
Philippines, as part of its 1994 crime prevention
strategy focusing on strengthening the role of
communities, has been mandated to ensure close ties
with regional and local councils and to foster a
participatory and multidisciplinary approach to the
analysis and prevention of crime. The plan also
calls for greater efforts to establish local
(barangay) prevention committees, and student prevention
committees in schools and universities.
In order to provide a solid foundation, a comprehensive
study of the effectiveness of community crime prevention
programmes is currently being conducted
in major cities in cooperation with the Asia and
Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and
the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI). The study will
help to identify the keys to success and the programmes
that should be promoted and implemented on a larger scale.
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