ABSTRACT

The Report of the Morgan Inquiry (Home Office 1991b) argued that local authority involvement in the delivery of effective programmes of crime prevention should be prioritised. This report encouraged a shift away from law enforcement and crime control towards a crime reduction approach. It basically drew attention to the fact that the police service could no longer deliver community safety on its own. The seeds of the crime and disorder legislation were sown in this report in that it recognised that the forming of partnerships with other agencies (which would come to be referred to as ‘responsible authorities’) was the way forward. The legislation itself is underpinned by the replacement of the terminology of ‘crime prevention’ with the more all encompassing notion of ‘community safety’. It is important that account be taken of this notion of community safety because it incorporates wider quality of life issues such as the fear of crime, as well as criminal activity itself.