The Metropolitan Police – Safer Neighbourhoods Initiative
Example of:
How developing partnerships and engaging others can help improve sustainability
Key points:
- As part of the Safer Neighbourhoods Initiative, the Metropolitan Police found that by reducing environmental crime (litter and vandalism) overall crime levels fell.
- The Metropolitan Police worked in partnership with local businesses, who benefited from the reduction in crime, to pool resources for the initiative.
The “Broken Window Theory”, is that there is an express link between environmental degradation, reduced quality of life and crime. Environmental crime such as litter and vandalism have a direct impact on local quality of life, and crime rates often reflect this. Sergeant Hayes in Hillingdon Borough decided to test this theory as part of the Safer Neighbourhoods Initiative which sees the police, local authorities and other local groups working in partnership with local people to deal with local issues. A number of initiatives were undertaken, including providing paint to local shopkeepers to paint out graffiti and providing skips free of charge to clear up fly tipped waste. After 12 months of engagement with the local community, the overall crime level had dropped by 24% in the area, and a reduction was achieved in every one of the 15 ‘basket of crime’ offences. The MSP has 630 Safer Neighbourhood teams across London, and in 2006/7 5,782 environmental visual audits were carried out and 2,740 environmental crimes were prioritised by local communities for Safer Neighbourhood teams to tackle.
The Metropolitan Police provide a co-ordination role and did not a have a specific budget e.g. for the purchase of paint and brushes to paint out graffiti. However, by working in partnership with other organisations with the same objectives of cleaning up the area and reducing crime, they were able to pool resources. In Hillingdon they sought sponsorship from local businesses and the local football club, who benefited from the reduction in crime.