Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
security which is now the responsibility of national state actions and has only been
treated briefly here. As always in dealing with changing trends, in this case, crime,
there is a need to find accurate statistics. This is more difficult than in many other
urban problem areas because crime is a socially constructed concept, rather than
some absolute value. It varies between countries and urban places due to differences
in the legal criminalization of certain behaviours and the pre-disposition of some
groups to these behaviours. There are also variations in the reporting, recording and
pursuit of people engaged in criminal acts, let alone the degree of success in penal-
izing people convicted of crime. In addition there is a wide discrepancy between
crime rates as measured by statistical authorities and the perception of crime. So
even though the rapid growth of crime in many western cities in the two decades
from the 1970s slowed down and has been reduced back to these levels, there is still
the perception that crime is still a major problem, not simply in areas of traditional
high crime rates, but generally in cities. In part this is a reflection of the memory of
the rapid rise in crime rates in western countries from the 1970s to the early 1990s
which led to increasing concern and political actions to increase the safety of urban
places. In this context the need to be more aware of the vulnerabilities of women
has been highlighted in recent years by United Nations publicity and their suggested
policies to improve female safety (UNW). Some of the reasons for the reduction
in crime rates in the developed world are due to society-wide factors, such as the
declining birth rate and fewer young males, but there can be little doubt that it is
also due to the policy changes introduced by the police and justice systems. These
involve new ways of anticipating and solving crime, not simply by new policies
within these agencies but by more integrated and co-operative crime-fighting and
prevention strategies under the Safe Cities rubic.
The emphasis in this discussion has been upon the changing attitudes and poli-
cies in the developed world. It is worth noting that although many of these new
crime-fighting policies can be stand-alone programmes, there is increasing recogni-
tion of the need for more integrated approaches. This involves more than co-ordi-
nation between the various agencies that are linked to law and order issues, but also
to social service organizations, as well as other stakeholders, including the general
public. The result in many urban areas has been a more integrated, multi-dimen-
sional strategy known as Safe Cities, which involves recognition of the seriousness
of the problem of crime, a willingness to address it and a vision to create a viable
strategy to combat it. An important part of this new process has been the increasing
application of policies that have been empirically tested and shown to be effec-
tive, whether in those that relate to crime detection, areal change, or behavioural
change. In addition there is greater recognition that many crimes are committed by
people with serious mental disorders or with drug dependency and that some of the
problems they cause should be better seen as a public health issues rather than only
criminal activity. Despite the progress in so many of the fields related to crime, it
must be admitted that the focus on urban places means that other types of crime,
such the so-called white-collar crimes, for example, frauds or financial manipula-
tions, are not usually part of Safe City approaches, although are still a necessary
part of police activity.
