Community safety

T.b.e. One of the primary requirements of any sustainable community is a safe environment for its people to live their lives. The importance of personal safety to the success of an area is unsurpassed. It is affected by design, management and behaviour and in turn it affects people’s decisions about whether to stay in an area or leave at the first opportunity. Policing and local government are the twin agencies with responsibility for creating a safe, clean and green environment. They are partnered by the community living and working in the area. It is never too early nor too late to create an awareness of the components of and interactions among crime, personal safety, active citizenship and sustainable and successful places.
There are varying factors, as this document will show, that contribute to a community experiencing difficulties in providing a safe environment. While there can be a temptation to arrive at solutions through ad-hoc interventions, a partnership/community approach is more successful. Preventing crime, solving crime and fostering an environment where crime and anti-social behaviour will not flourish are among the key challenges facing any community.