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Urban crime and violence: Policy responses85three sections covers policy and organizational responses,and then the final section identifies some emerging trends.There is one overarching point that needs to be fullyappreciated before the examples in the sections that followcan be understood in their proper context. In this field, theevidence points overwhelmingly to the fact that very manyinitiatives depend upon local circumstances and cultures. 1What this means is that what works well in one locality willnot necessarily work in another because initiatives need tobe tailored to the particular circumstances in which they willbe applied. So, a particular initiative drawn from the urbangovernance practices in the Western world could not necessarilybe transplanted without considerable thought andadaptation to a developing country, where the processes,cultural norms and expectations, as well as skills available,are likely to be different.This does not mean that it is impossible to learn fromexperiences elsewhere, or that initiatives that appear to haveworked in one location cannot be successfully adapted toanother. Rather, considerable care needs to be exercised indoing this to ensure that what is being tried relates effectivelyto local circumstances.LEVELS OF RESPONSESMuch crime is characterized by the fact that it takes place inspecific locations and affects specific individuals or groups,either because they have been specifically targeted orbecause an opportunistic offender takes advantage of aparticular situation. As Chapter 3 has already pointed out,one of the most important questions in this situation needsto be about the characteristics of the locality where theincident took place. The where is as important a question aswho, what or how. The characteristics of place can make abig difference to the opportunity to commit a crime, as canthe behaviour of human beings in particular places; so effortsto understand these relationships in order to make theprocess of offending harder and the perception of thebalance between risk and reward by a potential offender lessattractive are important components in many initiatives toreduce crime.Chapter 3 also suggests that poor planning, designand management of urban places and spaces are factorsassociated with crime and violence. This implies thatresponses at the local level are especially significant, since itis at this spatial scale that the impact of planning decisionsand many crimes are most felt. 2 Similarly, social factorsassociated with crime, as indicated in Chapter 3, can also beaddressed at the local level, through social policies andthrough interventions that involve communities or localactors. Often, even if social policies are formulated andimplemented at various levels, local implementation ensuresthat targeted vulnerable groups are reached. Similarly, it is atthe local level that integration of policies is best achieved.Nevertheless, not all crimes can be ameliorated by localaction as some need to be tackled on a much broader scale.Examples include drug trafficking, 3 arms trafficking 4 andhuman trafficking, 5 most of which involve illegal movementsacross national boundaries, which, as a consequence, requirecooperation between all the nations involved if they are tobe tackled effectively.In addition, policy and financial frameworks thatgovern what can be done at the local level are often put inplace at higher levels of the governance hierarchy. Forexample, many police forces operate over much broaderareas than individual cities, as do laws and many practices.Sometimes the resources needed to tackle crime problemsat a local level are not available from within that locality, andso higher levels of governance have a role to play in makingresources available. While the main focus of this chapter ison what happens at the urban scale and more locally, it isimportant to recognize the contributions that are made atbroader governmental scales and to acknowledge that multilevelapproaches to issues of crime and violence are aninevitable consequence of multilevel governmental structures.This section, therefore, provides a series of examplesof different kinds of contributions from the internationallevel to the sub-national level. The remainder of the chapterwill then concentrate on the urban and more localized levelsand on community activities. This is a vast area and it is notpossible to cover it comprehensively here; but the examplesdiscussed should give an indication of the range of possibleactivities and policy trends in tackling urban insecurity.International cooperationInternational cooperation and mechanisms have an importantpart to play in efforts to combat certain crimes inparticular – for example, the United Nations Conventionagainst Transnational Organized Crime, the InternationalCriminal Police Organization, and programmes and projectssupported by international and regional organizations. Theyalso have an important role in setting principles and guidelines,as in the case of the UN-Habitat Safer CitiesProgramme, which provides an integrative approach foraddressing issues of crime and insecurity at city level,through city-wide processes and strategies, and for supportinglocal initiatives and international exchanges and learning.■ United Nations Convention againstTransnational Organized CrimeThe United Nations Convention against TransnationalOrganized Crime was signed by just under 150 memberstates between December 2000 and December 2002. 6 Theconvention seeks to standardize terminology and concepts inorder to create a common basis for national crime-controlframeworks, and commits signatories to a series of actions.These include adopting domestic laws and practicesdesigned to prevent or suppress organized crime; confiscatingillegally acquired assets; adopting an approach toextradition that avoids the creation of ‘safe havens’; mutuallegal assistance; the adoption of measures to protect victimsand witnesses; programmes of technical cooperation; financialand material assistance to help developing nationsimplement the convention; and the establishment of aregular conference to review progress.For present purposes, it is important to note threecharacteristics of this convention: the commitment toNot all crimes can beameliorated by localaction as some needto be tackled on amuch broader scaleInternationalcooperation andmechanisms have animportant part toplay in efforts tocombat certaincrimes