Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

96
Urban crime and violence
Campaigns to
reduce and, if
possible, eliminate
corruption are of
considerable
importance to the
prospects for
success in tackling
crime and violence
There are many
kinds of responses
to issues of crime
and violence, with
evidence suggesting
that the most
successful ones are
those that are
tailored to the
particular circumstances
being
addressed
There can be little doubt that if the Port Moresby
Safer Cities Programme is to succeed, it will need to be seen
as a relatively long-term activity, and to sustain such a
programme successfully over such a period will require the
three characteristics noted earlier: political will, sustained
commitment to action, and strong and visible leadership.
Early signs indicate that these characteristics will be present
in the Port Moresby initiative.
Corruption
Another frequent problem in developing countries is corruption,
especially in the various arms of municipal government
and the police. In essence, the very organs that citizens
should be looking up to in tackling problems of crime and
violence are not trusted because they are corrupt, or at least
are seen as having very questionable linkages with criminal
elements. Where this is the situation, it seems likely that
efforts to tackle crime and violence will be undermined by
relationships of this nature. It is clear that the process of
rebuilding citizens’ trust of their local government structures
and police services is fundamental to any campaign
against crime and violence. For these reasons, campaigns to
reduce and, if possible, eliminate corruption are of considerable
importance to the prospects for success in tackling
crime and violence. These, too, require the same characteristics
as noted above – political will, sustained commitment to
action, and strong and visible leadership.
Although in both cases it is clear that wide-ranging
programmes of action were necessary in Diadema and will
be necessary in Port Moresby, it is difficult to see how
problems on the scales exhibited in these two cities can be
tackled without strong political support from the outset, and
sustained for significant periods of time. Another necessary
condition for success appears to be that efforts need to be
made to ensure that the implementing arms of the local
authority and other public agencies are fully behind action
programmes and are pulling in the same directions. In order
to achieve this, the role of the decision-making processes is
crucial: the link between a local diagnosis or audit, the development
of a strategy, possibly through consultation and
involvement of different actors, and its implementation
through targeted actions should support buy-in and involvement
of different departments and actors, including
communities. Partnership mechanisms are one of the most
important tools available to achieve these latter objectives,
and this is the subject of a fuller discussion later in the
chapter.
The key point to emphasize is that the actions
described in this section have to be seen as part of a longterm
commitment on the part of local authorities, as well as
central and regional/provincial/state governments, to reducing
crime and violence to the point where their effects upon
the lives of citizens and the prosperity of the city are under
control. The kind of leadership role needed to sustain this is
likely to fall to the city’s political leaders. This also needs to
be complemented by sustained support and commitment
from the heads of local authorities and key programme areas.
This does not in any way denigrate the contribution of
community-based initiatives or deny the necessity of full
community engagement with processes of this nature. But
experience suggests that there is an essential role for political
leaders committed to the view that safer cities are an
essential aspect of good governance and that good governance
is a fundamental key to successful crime prevention
initiatives.
TYPES OF POLICY
RESPONSE TO PROBLEMS
OF CRIME AND VIOLENCE
There are many kinds of responses to issues of crime and
violence, with evidence suggesting that the most successful
ones are those that are tailored to the particular circumstances
being addressed, rather than those that are
essentially standardized based upon experience elsewhere.
It is possible to classify these responses into six broad groups
of approaches as follows:
1 Enhancing urban safety and security through effective
urban planning, design and governance. Poor planning,
design and management have been identified as among
the constellation of factors associated with crime and
violence. This group of activities is therefore mainly
about manipulating and maintaining the physical
environment, which is the setting within which most
crimes take place.
2 Community-based approaches to enhancing urban safety
and security. Activities of this nature are essentially
about getting communities to take ownership of initiatives.
Very often this will mean that community groups
or individuals will either be the source of project ideas
or will play leading roles in implementing them.
3 Strengthening formal criminal justice systems and
policing. This could be seen as the ‘classical’ approach
to problems of crime and violence, regarding them as
being the primary territory of the police and the criminal
justice system. Initiatives in this area are also often
undertaken at the city or even broader scale.
4 Reduction of risk factors. These approaches tend to
focus on groups that are likely to be perpetrators of
crime or on groups that are at risk of being victims of
crime. The aim here is either to reduce the likelihood of
such groups getting involved in criminal activities or to
reduce the problems faced by victims.
5 Non-violent resolution of conflicts. This essentially is
about seeking to manage situations in which conflicts
often arise in order to reduce the likelihood of this
happening or to find solutions to the problems that do
not result in violence.
6 Strengthening of social capital. This includes improving
the ability of people, groups and communities as a
whole to challenge the problems of crime and violence
and the provision of community facilities that facilitate
or provide more opportunities for processes of this
nature.