Archive for February, 2010
Radical Common Sense To Prevent Crime
Guest Feature by Greg Saville
When Steve asked me to contribute to this blog a line from a famous play came to mind. With apologies to Skakespeare: If our prevention cause is just and our method of achieving it honorable, “methinks I could not die anywhere so contented as in the king’s company”. Steve will no doubt shudder at being prevention king. But I think he’ll agree with my message. It is called SafeGrowth.
It boils down to this:
1. There is a cloud of confusion obstructing clear-headed thinking when it comes to crime. We must deal with facts, not ideology.
2. We cannot arrest, imprison, or target harden our way out of crime.
3. There is no point in creating a safe physical place if people are disengaged from community life.
4. Crime is best tackled in the neighbourhood by harnessing the creativity and energy of neighbourhood dwellers and functional neighbourhood groups.
SafeGrowth relates to an idea rediscovered by writer Jane Jacobs – the success of a city is based in small neighbourhoods. It includes success in reducing crime.
In SafeGrowth neighbours create their own annual, measurable, safety plan. Every SafeGrowth plan uses diagnostic techniques: a crime risk matrix, crime mapping and asset mapping, safety audits, and other methods of crime prevention science.
Putting SafeGrowth into practice is not easy. How do we get neighbourhoods activated? Who wants to go to more meetings? Why can’t the police just do their job? These are the obstacles we must overcome.
One way to do that is to use radical common sense.
http://safe-growth.blogspot.com/2009/08/radical-common-sense.html
This is the idea that we cannot solve our deepest problems through traditional ways. This means accepting the criminal justice system as an adversarial, blunt tool. Instead our future exists in cooperating, sharing best practices, and accepting that our fate is tied to that of others.
Also, we must vote for provincial and federal leaders who will better resource municipalities. In turn, municipalities must refine, or create, a network of geographical neighbourhoods. They must upskill neighbourhood groups to develop annual safety plans in cooperation with service providers.
Embryonic SafeGrowth neighbourhoods are already underway in Toronto’s Jane/Finch,
http://safe-growth.blogspot.com/2009/06/waking-up-to-21st-century-prevention.html
in Saskatoon,
http://safe-growth.blogspot.com/2009/05/doin-it-right-on-wrong-side-of-town.html
and Detroit’s Central Woodward neighbourhood in the U.S.
http://www.detroit-lisc.org/display.aspx?pointer=9122
This is radical common sense in the 21st Century. Join Steve and myself in helping make this happen where you live and work.
2 commentsCommunity Partnerships Help Reduce Crime
Recently, I completed a rather large Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) project. During this process, considerable research was required and several best practices were explored. If we are to become truly “engaged” in our communities and seek out new methods of crime reduction – we must explore other alternatives.
This reminds me in many ways of playing hiding-go-seek when I was a child. Often, there are other solutions and various programs that have been successful elsewhere. These gems are always exciting to find. However, implementation is an entirely different matter. This is not as simple as one might think, especially with our current economy and funding challenges. Roadblocks can come in many forms. It’s therefore essential that we find comprehensive, well-balanced and proactive solutions that work. The East Sussex Safer Communities Partnership is one such “gem”.
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