Tackling Crime And Urban Insecurity In Europe Through Co Operation Between Local Authorities And Police

This volume contains the main papers presented to an international conference of delegates from across Europe, representing the police, local authorities, professionals and community organisations. The papers highlight the fact that crime is not just a problem for the police or any one agency alone. The problems experienced across Europe and the methods employed to combat crime are discussed. The aim is to raise awareness of best practice and exchange experience between participants, by examining current activities within regions, and international collaboration between regions.

This publication takes an integrated approach to combating urban crime and insecurity. Favouring long-term preventive measures over repressive ones, it promotes partnerships designed to tackle crime prevention on several fronts, bringing together the police, the media, schools, the business community, urban planners and local communities. The guide highlights the fact that effective crime prevention is the domain of local authorities, and finds that the consultation and participation of local inhabitants in social and environmental development schemes is particularly important, in order to promote a sense of social cohesion within the community and help to restore lost confidence in the ability of public authorities to deal with crime.

CLRAE = Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe

This publication contains the proceedings of an international conference organised by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) of the Council of Europe, held in September 2001. This conference examined local authority co-operation in dealing with the new challenges of transfrontier crime, the effects of globalisation, and increased transboundary co-operation between European local authorities.

It is generally accepted that the physical environment in towns and cities can affect patterns of crime and antisocial behaviour. This report presents the proceedings of an international conference, held in Poland in October 2000, as part of the work programme of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) of the Council of Europe to develop and promote policies for the reduction of urban crime in its 41 member countries. The conference discussions focused on four key themes: housing and crime; open spaces, street planning and design; urban transport planning to reduce crime; and the relationship between the siting and design of sporting facilities and crime.

Concerns over insecurity and questions of safety have become central issues in social and political debates across Europe and the western world. Crucial changes have followed as a result, such as a redefinition of the role of the state in relation to policing - a central theme of this book - and an explosion in the growth of private policing. These developments have, in their turn, heightened feelings of insecurity and safety, particularly where populations have become increasingly mobile and societies more socially fragmented, culturally diverse and economically fragmented. Responses to insecurity now increasingly inform decisions made by governments, organisations and ordinary people in their social interactions. This book makes a key contribution to an understanding of these developments, approaching the subject from a range of perspectives, across several different disciplines. The three parts of the book look at broader theoretical and thematic issues, then at cross-national and pan-European developments and debates in European governance, and finally explore specific examples of local issues of community safety and the broader implications these have. Leading figures in the field draw upon criminological, legal, social, and political theory to shed new light on what has become one of the most intractable problems facing western societies.