ABSTRACT
Much of the emphasis of chapter 6 was on the promotion of active citizenship and government encouragement for citizens to take personal responsibility for their own and their community's safety. However, there are limits to such initiatives. On the one hand, as was illustrated in chapter 2, crime in general and burglary in particular are targeted predominantly at the poor and those located in poorer areas. On the other hand, as the research described in chapter 6 demonstrates, it is precisely in such areas that neighbourhood watch is so weakly developed (Hope 1988; Husain 1988) and where the financial impediments to increased security hardware are most severe (Wojcik et al 1997). As a result, numerous crime prevention initiatives in deprived areas, especially areas of predominantly public housing, have involved government investment (Allatt 1984; Forrester et al 1988; Foster and Hope 1993). Such initiatives are not exclusively British. For example, Rubenstein et al (1980) have described the introduction of improved locks in public housing projects in Seattle and Chicago. However, initiatives in England and Wales are a good illustration of the emergence of a coordinated central government strategy, the Safer Cities Programme being a significant addition (Tilley 1992).
