Helping Create Safe Communities & Neighbourhoods

By: Steve Woolrich

Utilizing and supporting Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) practices can help enhance communities by reducing crime and loss and raising awareness about our built environments.  CPTED strategies are effective but require a well-balanced approach to crime prevention and ideally incorporate Crime Prevention through Social Development (CPSD).  With this in mind, I encourage partnerships which help foster a “culture of caring” for our communities and each other.

It is through these partnerships that we can successfully apply both CPTED and CPSD throughout our communities and ensure safe growth and sustainability.  Embracing community-based crime prevention initiatives such as this and working together helps forge new alliances and collectively engages our communities. What is truly exciting about this is that we can begin to improve the “quality of life” in our neighborhoods and reduce the fear of crime.  Could this have a dramatic impact on overall well-being and happiness?  Mark Anielski from Edmonton, Alberta is a well-being economist with an incredible perspective on this.  If we could sustain our “community” well-being and happiness I suggest there would be a significant reduction in crime. Mark embraces the principles of sustainability and writes “to sustain something means to hold up something, to give support or relief to, to provide for sustenance or nourishment or to support something as true, legal or just.  To sustain the life and real wealth of a community means to ensure that the basic needs of all individuals of a community are being met.”

It is essential that prior to utilizing any crime prevention strategy, including CPTED & CPSD that we do our homework first!  At a recent crime prevention practitioners course hosted by ACCPA in Calgary last week a 3 Step Problem-oriented Approach was part of the curriculum.  Facilitator Stephen Schneider, discussed this noting its importance.  These three components include the following:

(1) Research & Analytical Process – Scope and nature of the problem is identified, predicted and assessed through the gathering and analysis of information
(2) Intervention is Highly Individualized - crafted specifically for the particular (potential) problem: the scope and nature of the intervention must be appropriate for and commensurate with the scope and nature of the problems
(3) Alternative/Flexible/Individualized Solutions - a wide range of alternative and flexible solutions should be considered, emphasizing those that address root causes

As a crime prevention practitioner specializing in CPTED I was encouraged by this course and continue to recognize the importance of collaborating with others outside my own community.  I met many interesting people over the 3 days including police officers, municipal and county representatives, media personnel, members of our First Nations and Aboriginal communities and others interested in learning more about crime prevention.  This event was a great opportunity for learning and reminds me that we must strive to play a vital role in our communities and share our expertise with others.

Filed under Community Crime Prevention, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design