CHAPTER III
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KNOwLEDGE-BASED CRIME PREvENTION
Examples include the following:
" The city of Diadema, São Paulo, Brazil, introduced a GIS system in 2000,
aspartofitspolicyonpublicsafetyandthepreventionofcrime.Itwasused
by the newly-created Municipal Department of Social Policies and Public
Security, to assist with the diagnosis, monitoring and strategic planning of
prevention measures.
58
" The Centre for Studies on Public Safety (CRISP), at the Federal University
ofMinasGerais,inBrazil,hascreatedanAtlasofCriminalityfortheCityof
Belo Horizonte, as well as for the State of Minas Gerais.This has combined
data from the 1980s to 2000 from the military and civil police, the Ministry
ofHealth,socio-economicinformationandcensusdata.Similarworkhasbeen
undertakenbyCRISPinotherBraziliancitiesandtheStateofMinasGerais,
on specific topics such as homicides, drug offences, domestic violence and
robbery (www.crisp.ufmg.br).
" InCanada,theFederalGovernmenthaspilotedananalysisofneighbourhood
crimeinsixcities.Thiscombinedgeo-codinginformationandpoliceuniform
crimestatisticsdata.Ithelpedtohighlighthighandlowcrimeneighbourhoods,
youthcrime,patternsoftraveltocommitcrime,andtrendsovertimeinthose
cities.ThestudywasundertakenbyStatisticsCanadaandtheNationalCrime
Prevention Centre.
59
Safety audits and local governments
One of the major tools for aiding the systematic analysis of local crime problems
and the development of a detailed plan is a safety audit or safety diagnosis.This
toolprovidesapracticalanddetailedguideandchecklistonwhoshouldbeinvolved,
the kinds of data to collect and how to assess the information.
Safety audits, like observatories, promote commitment and ownership in relation to
crime prevention plans among the partners whose collaboration is necessary. Safety
audits are sometimes also referred to as security diagnoses, and may include crime
profiles and environmental scans.What is essential is that the safety audit examines
notjustcrimeandvictimization,buttheirlinkstosocialandeconomicfactors,and
existing services, as well as the wider political and institutional context in which
problems occur.
Many examples now exist, adapted to the situations in different countries.A major
resource is the
Guidance on Local Safety Audits: A Compendium of International
Practice,
60
which provides clear and detailed advice and examples relevant to high-,
medium- and low-income countries.
58
See José de Filippi Jr., "The experience of Diadema, São Paulo, Brazil", in
Strategies and Best Practices in
Crime Prevention, in Particular in Relation to Urban Areas and Youth at Risk,MargaretShawandKathrynTravers,eds.
(Montreal, International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, 2007).
59
Savoie,
Analysis of the spatial distribution of crime in Canada (see footnote 49).
60
Guidance on Local Safety Audit (see footnote 57). Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German,
Russian and Spanish from www.fesu.org.