“CRIME PREVENTION” IS THE KEY TO ACHIEVING A PRACTICALLY “CRIME FREE SOCIETY”

We at POLICE WATCH INDIA over a period of time have analysed the root cause of the commission of many a heinous crime and have come to the conclusion that many a times trivial issues which are ignored and brushed aside by the police keep simmering and eventually are the root cause of the commission of many a heinous crime.

EFFECTIVE “CRIME PREVENTION” HAS TO BE TAKEN MOST SERIOUSLY NOT ONLY ON PAPER BUT IN PRACTICE AS THE FACT REMAINS THAT:-

Crime can and should be prevented. Truly effective prevention requires addressing causes of crime and reducing opportunities for it to occur. Everyone, no matter what age, position, or capacity, can and must take individual action to stop crime.

The problems of crime, violence, and drug abuse are best addressed though local action supported by local and state policies. Comprehensive crime prevention action plans (coordinated strategies and policies that address causes as well as occurrences of crime) are vital to long-term community success against crime.

Partnerships that actively involve the local community and its residents are the key to preventing crime. Prevention is a highly cost-effective alternative to the costs of crime to individuals, neighbourhoods, and communities. Crime prevention action should be grounded in research and tested approaches and aided by evaluation.

Preventing crime requires tailoring to local needs and conditions. Preventing crime is a responsibility of all levels and agencies of government.

TOWARDS THIS END WE WILL HAVE TO:-

Enable adults who care for children and youth to recognize and prevent situations that may put them at risk of victimization or delinquency and to provide them with the knowledge and tools to help reduce these risks.

Increase crime prevention awareness and skills in children and youth and engage them in service to their communities. Provide dynamic leadership that enables law enforcement agencies, schools, and other community partners to increase school safety.

Identify issues and trends that promote the safety of children and youth; develop and disseminate appropriate research and promising practices.

Build and expand programs proven to meet changing conditions affecting children and youth.

THE GOVT. ON ITS PART SHOULD:-

Develop and strengthen models that create vibrant public and public-private partnerships supporting individual and community crime prevention.

Identify and deliver best practices and lessons learned to help strengthen these partnerships, improve their effectiveness in preventing crime, and avoid redundancies.

Collaborate closely with locally focused partners and stakeholders to integrate and synchronise crime prevention campaigns, initiatives, and programmes to achieve maximum national impact against crime.

Educate national, state, and local leaders about the cost-effectiveness and other benefits of crime prevention.

Evaluate these partnerships based on mutually established goals.

GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP AT ALL LEVELS IS REQUIRED:-

To create and maintain an institutional framework for effective crime prevention.

Socio-economic development and inclusion refer to the need to integrate crime prevention into relevant social and economic policies, and to focus on the social integration of at risk communities, children, families, and youth.

Cooperation and partnerships between government ministries and authorities, civil society organisations, the business sector, and private citizens are required given the wide-ranging nature of the causes of crime and the skills and responsibilities required to address them.

Sustainability and accountability can only be achieved if adequate resources to establish and sustain programmes and evaluation are made available and clear accountability for funding, implementation, evaluation and achievement of planned results is established.

Knowledge base strategies, policies and programmes need to be based on a broad multidisciplinary foundation of knowledge, together with evidence regarding specific crime problems, their causes, and proven practices.

Human rights/rule of law/culture of lawfulness the rule of law and those human rights which are recognized in international instruments must be respected in all aspects of crime prevention, and a culture of lawfulness actively promoted.

Interdependency refers to the need for national crime prevention diagnoses and strategies to take into account, where appropriate, the links between local criminal problems and international organized crime.

The principle of differentiation calls for crime prevention strategies to pay due regard to the different needs of men and women and consider the special needs of vulnerable members of society.

THERE IS CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT WELL PLANNED CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGIES NOT ONLY PREVENT CRIME AND VICTIMISATION, BUT ALSO PROMOTE COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CONTRIBUTE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRIES.