Smart on Crime Blog
Posted on: November 2nd, 2011 by Smart on Crime
We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Frank Johnson as our new regular guest blogger for Smart on Crime in Waterloo Region! If you do a web search for “Frank Johnson” you will find there are quite a few of them in this world. But there’s only one Frank Johnson willing to roll up his sleeves and dive into the world of Smart on Crime! Just so you know who we’re talking about, here’s a little bit more about Frank Johnson, in his own words.
Frank Johnson
Tell us a little about yourself
I am a retired principal with the local Catholic school board, dad, and sometimes runner who possesses an irreverent sense of humour that periodically gets me in trouble.
What has inspired you most about your life’s work…. so far?
That positive change is not only possible, but inevitable if we treat people, especially youth, with respect and kindness.
How is crime prevention related to the work you do?
As a school principal one sees some level of crime regularly. My interest is in how to teach and inculcate pro-social behaviours as a prevention strategy.
What does ‘smart on crime’ mean to you?
Using available research and data to guide our actions and reduce our prejudices, to continue to go deeper to ask better questions and hopefully find better solutions.
What can readers expect from your guest blog posts?
Passion tempered by experience and optimism.
There you have it folks! Look for Frank’s first post tomorrow!
Welcome Frank!
Posted on: October 31st, 2011 by Smart on Crime
Everybody loves an infographic! They are so helpful in making a point that words on paper just can’t do. As various delegations and experts appeared before the House of Commons during the debate on the omnibus crime bill, we were reminded of this great infographic from The Church Council on Justice & Corrections.
It gives one pause for thought.
To read more from the CCJC on the omnibus bill, find their CCJC Bulletin and an earlier press advisory about the costs of prison expansion called for in the omnibus bill.
Posted on: October 27th, 2011 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been writing about placemaking. In part because we just had a fantastic event with Cynthia Nikitin of the Project for Public Spaces, but also because placemaking is a great, ‘smart on crime’, crime prevention tool for neighbourhoods and communities. The Festival of Neighbourhoods in Kitchener, Ontario, is a perfect example of placemaking in action.
Created as a “throw a community party, plan a project and get to know your neighbours” kind of event, the Festival of Neighbourhoods has become a great deal more. That “throw a party” approach has led to strengthened community connections and interactions among neighbours where engaged, everyday people make a difference in their community, every day.
In recent decades, society and technology has changed so much that we now spend less time connecting with each other, face to face, and more time at work, in front of screens, in our cars and in our homes. Getting to know the people who live next door and down the street really can make you happier knowing there are folks close by that you can count on.
In crime prevention the saying goes that “a connected community is a safer community”, which is why we, at the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council has sponsored the “Safer Neighbourhood” award at the Festival of Neighbourhoods for the last number of years. The award is for a neighbourhood that hosted an event with the intention of creating a safer community through activities related to community safety, safety awareness and crime-prevention.
Festival of Neighbourhoods – Winners of the Safer Neighbourhood Award
The winner of this year’s “Safer Neighbourhood” award was the Victoria Park Neighbourhood Association for their Henry Sturm Community Festival. The neighbourhood organized a clean up to raise awareness about a neglected, but much loved wooded area along a stretch of the Iron Horse Trail that backs onto many properties in the community. But more importantly, they held a tree planting ceremony in memory of their neighbour who lost his life on New Year’s Eve 2010 on the very same trail behind their houses. It was a chance for family, friends, neighbours and supporters to honour his life and the contributions he made to the neighbourhood which included friendly hellos, a helping hand and time to stop and chat.
This community festival held by a group of caring and committed neighbours is placemaking in fine form. The kind of connections established and maintained within this group will do more for creating a strong sense of place, safety and community than real estate values, fancy design and planned communities could ever do.
Here at the Crime Prevention Council, we have another saying: “Together for a safer community”. We all have a role to play in making and creating safer communities and one way is through building stronger connections with the people who live around us.
What ‘smart on crime’ actions are you taking in your neighbourhood to build connections… and have a little fun?
Posted on: October 12th, 2011 by Smart on Crime
As we all strive to find innovative ways of creating safe communities and reducing crime, sometimes the solutions can be quite astounding. But how do we go about doing this and have an impact? The famous slogan utilized by Nike is a great start – Just do it!
We often spend so much time thinking about these strategies and trying to seek out funding for them that we get sidelined and forget that we are seldom able to achieve great things without the help of others. Another chronic problem we hear about often is there’s not enough capacity. In 2010 I was doing some research on street pianos in New York City. I was truly inspired by Luke Jerram, an artist that had successfully done this and calls the initiative “Play me, I’m yours”. Could this be done in a much colder climate with short summers and unpredictable weather, I asked myself. The answer was overwhelmingly – Yes it can! And so the adventure began with another great summer launch this year in downtown Red Deer, Alberta.
The Ross Street Piano
It’s difficult to imagine having such great success without sharing it and engaging others that can help make a difference in their community. I consider this the key to great community-building initiatives such as the Ross Street Piano project. Local musicians, artists, businesses and residents have all done their part to make this a success. I tell people that it’s music to my ears. When I see the activity and the street “buzz” this has created throughout the summer, I’m further inspired. We don’t always need to reinvent the wheel when many successful initiatives and best practices already exist.
Does having a street piano downtown prevent crime? Well, if you consider the principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design, better known as CPTED, yes it does. There is a direct connection between our built environment and the human condition. We interact daily with people in the various spaces we inhabit. When you generate positive activity on the street, it attracts more people. Jane Jacobs wrote “you don’t really get a clear picture until you get out of theory-land and into the streets for a closer look.” This is what I do each and every day and it’s best practices such as CPTED that are preventing crime and supporting a proactive, well-balanced approach.
Our local initiative recently inspired another street piano project in the small community of Cochrane, Alberta. Their piano was placed outside this summer on a busy street next to an ice cream parlor and pie shop. Two criminology students from Mount Royal University in Calgary, with the help of their instructor made this a reality. Randi Boulton, a rising young star attended with me at their launch and played for several hours, entertaining a large crowd of bystanders. The more entertainment and activity we can generate on our streets, the less crime. Events such as this can also be the catalyst for connecting us with each other, a critical aspect of building community and improving quality of life.
Our community piano has now been brought inside for another winter. We’ve found a great new home for it at The Hub, a local arts and culture hotspot where people in our community connect daily. Residents, visitors, clients or anyone wishing to play a tune or two will be welcome to do so every Wednesday morning. Since it’s a local hangout for many talented musicians, I’m sure the Ross Street Piano will not sit quietly this winter and there is already some ideas brewing about the new artwork that will appear on it next summer – stay tuned.
Full story in Red Deer Living Magazine
Author: Steve Woolrich is a crime prevention practitioner based in Red Deer, Alberta and works with communities across North America. Steve is a believer of the ‘walk the talk’ philosophy and spearheaded The Ross Street Piano project with the support of family and friends. It’s truly a labour of love and passion for community. Steve Woolrich also writes his own blog, Target Crime.
Posted on: October 7th, 2011 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
‘Placemaking’ is fast becoming a new ‘buzz word’. But what does it really mean anyway? It ends in ‘ing’ so that means it’s a verb, which means some kind of action is happening… What kind of action is required to ‘make a place’? And what does ‘making a place’ have to do with crime prevention and being smart on crime?
Well, the good folks at the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) in New York have a lot of experience with ‘placemaking’. In fact, it’s their entire philosophy. To PPS, placemaking is simply an approach for creating and/or transforming safe public spaces (e.g. civic squares, markets, streets, parks & trails, public buildings, transportation, downtown areas, etc). This approach engages community residents and decision-makers in the process and the ultimate purpose is to create spaces and places that are vibrant, dynamic, safe and healthy.
So, why does this matter to crime prevention?
We know from the work of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) that people feel uncomfortable or fearful in places and spaces that look and/or feel unsafe or dangerous. There’s a domino effect here – if people don’t feel safe in a public place, people don’t go there. If people don’t go there, most likely the space doesn’t get used for what it was intended. When ‘legitimate’ use of a space doesn’t take place, quite often, less desirable activities will take its place. Placemaking can help to turn a place around.
One of our roles as the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council (WRCPC) is keep our area municipalities engaged in the very important role they have to play in municipal-based crime prevention. Building on events we’ve done in the past, WRCPC has engaged Cynthia Nikitin from Project for Public Spaces to visit Waterloo Region on October 20 & 21, 2011. Cynthia will present a free public talk and workshop on community safety and crime prevention through placemaking.
You can register here for both events.
So, why does this matter to municipalities?
Municipalities are the closest level of government to the places where we live, work and play. Decisions made at the municipal level have the most direct impact on the public spaces in our neighbourhoods and communities. We know that vibrant, dynamic, safe & healthy public spaces and neighbourhoods play a very important part in community life. They are effective for:
- increasing social interaction and cohesion
- reducing crime and fear of crime
- increasing perceptions of safety
- encouraging legitimate activity & discouraging less desired activity
- developing a sense of ownership among community residents
- improving “liveability” in neighbourhoods
While talking with many people about these events, I’ve heard the same comment several times…. “Wow, I’ve never thought about crime prevention that way before, but it makes total sense!” Smart on crime is all about using evidence-based solutions for challenges facing our communities related to crime, fear of crime and victimization. Placemaking has been proven to work. Often, the best solutions are not the most expensive or the most complicated. The solutions that work are the ones where the community is directly involved in the creating the solution and where the community takes continued ownership for making a place their own.
We’ll be posting several more articles over the next few weeks on the topics of crime prevention, placemaking, public space and community safety. Have you had experiences with placemaking? Good, bad, or otherwise? Tell us your placemaking story.
Posted on: September 15th, 2011 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
Elections are expected in seven Canadian provinces and territories this fall, including Ontario, where our Crime Prevention Council is located. Election periods always gain a great deal of media attention – the campaign stops, the announcements, the debates, the photo-ops….. But how do you know what a candidate really thinks on a particular issue? And how do you get engaged to ask the questions that are relevant to you? How do you know what questions to ask? What do you do when an issue important to you is not reflected in a candidate’s agenda?
Several community based agencies and provincial organizations are already steps ahead on this election thing and encourage people to take action using a variety of guides and kits created for just this purpose. Since everything we write about in this blog is related to crime prevention and smart on crime approaches to reducing crime, we’ve put together a list of election guides from organizations that work on root cause issues of crime.
If you’re passionate about an issue in your community, contact the associated organization or agency to find out if they have any prepared information that you can use to inform yourself AND inform others.
Elections are just one of our civic opportunities to engage and influence the decision makers of the day. What will you do to make your voice heard?
Posted on: August 22nd, 2011 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
Until recently, there was a fairly narrow dichotomy in perception of approaches to crime; you were perceived as either “tough on crime” or “soft on crime”. It’s good to see we are charting new territory with the language we use to describe our approaches “on crime”. The “on crime” slogans and taglines are becoming more diverse, but no less politicized.
In 1997, Tony Blair and the New Labour party in Britain ushered in the era of “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.
As early as 2007, in Canada, the leader of the Canadian New Democrat Party at the time, Jack Layton, gave a speech titled “Getting Smart on Crime“.
In 2009, California State’s top prosecutor, Kamala Harris, was running for the top job of District Attorney. She published “Smart on Crime” which formed the basis of her election platform.
Shortly after this, we launched our own Smart on Crime in Waterloo Region community plan, along with this blog.
Since then, we’ve come across several more “on crime” approaches. We’re sharing what we’ve gathered here and will add to the list as we find them.
- Smart on Crime – Recommendation for the Administration and Congress [United States] – over 40 individuals and organizations designing policy recommendations, changes and analysis for the justice system; from the very top to the very bottom
- Right on Crime [United States] – A conservative approach that advocates increased public safety while reducing corrections costs
- Smart on Crime Policy [United States] – shortly after being elected, District Attorney Kamala Harris [California], launched her Smart on Crime Transition Team and set out their areas for reform
Language is powerful and the words we use to talk about crime, crime prevention and responses to crime have a significant impact on our attitudes toward crime. Let’s use them wisely.
Have you come across other “on crime” initiatives that we don’t know about yet? What about “on crime” initiatives in other languages? We’d love to hear about them.
Posted on: July 26th, 2011 by Smart on Crime
On the heels of the July 21st Statistics Canada report on crime statistics for 2010, several media outlets ran editorials over the past few days asking a similar question: If crime has been on a downward trend since 1973, why is the ‘tough of crime’ agenda so popular? These editorials appeared as music to our ‘smart on crime’ ears; because asking tough questions about evidence based practice is the smart thing to do!
Here’s a collection of the coast-to-coast reflections:
Have you seen other editorials and articles on this in your city or town newspaper? Send us the link and we will add it to the list above.
Posted on: July 14th, 2011 by Smart on Crime
If you are a regular reader of the Smart on Crime blog, you will know that we like to share smart on crime ideas and actions, big and small. Well, this one is BIG! In their own words, here’s the big idea and plan of action from the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime.
“In the attempt to gather information on the role and action of local authorities in crime prevention and community safety in a systematic manner, ICPC is pleased to announce the official launch of the Global Survey on Safety in Cities.
The survey is the first of its kind and seeks to collect vital information about community safety and crime prevention in cities. It will offer the first database on safety in cities around the world, which will facilitate comparative analyses of local initiatives. The survey will also be a tool available for policy makers to reflect on existing practices to improve the quality of life of their citizens.
ICPC is convinced that prevention strategies undertaken by local authorities, particularly by cities, as well as available data on these strategies are essential to the well-being of populations.
The survey is valuable for ICPC’s work as it will be a tool for analysis for the Centre and will also be used in the upcoming International Report on the prevention of crime. Therefore, ICPC is requesting for your collaboration to answer to this survey and to distribute it to your networks.
The survey is designed to be responded by individuals who are in charge or work closely within local, municipal or city programmes on crime prevention, reduction or are in charge of public safety departments. The survey will require about twenty minutes of your time.”
You can access a web version of the survey here, or download a paper copy of the survey here. The survey is also available in multiple languages and you can find links for theme on the ICPC website.
Posted on: July 11th, 2011 by Smart on Crime
This is the final blog post in the victims of crime series. This post points you to helpful resources and links for agencies that support victims of crime in Waterloo Region.
The first three posts included:
There are many agencies within Waterloo Region working to support victims of crime, as well as many provincial and national advocacy agencies working for victim’s rights. Services to support victims of crime can be found by contacting 211 Ontario or Victim Services of Waterloo Region. Many agencies offer counselling and other support.
A few things victims need are protection, information, to be heard and believed and to be treated with dignity. With the support of those close to them, victims are more likely to seek professional support. With professional support, victims are more likely to define their own needs in overcoming the situation or dealing with the trauma.
A few local resources:
Advocacy for Victims of Crime
Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime
Office for Victims of Crime
Victim Services of Waterloo Region
Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region
Victim/Witness Assistance Program
Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region
Drug and Alcohol Helpline
Author: Tracie McGrath-Levis
Tracie McGrath-Levi is a completing a student placement with WRCPC and has contributed previous posts to Smart on Crime. In addition to completing her Bachelor of Social Work degree at Renison College, University of Waterloo, Tracie works full-time with the John Howard Society in Milton. In her role there Tracie works in court four days a week in an adult diversion program and in bail.
