Crime Prevention

Police services operating within democratic societies are charged with keeping the peace, protecting the public, and bringing offenders to justice. These are the fundamental functions for which they are primarily responsible. Aligned with this duty is accountability to citizens to use powers and resources as efficiently and effectively as possible. Historically, the main focus of the police has been to enforce criminal law and thereby achieve their objectives of keeping criminals off the streets. In more recent times, there has been a paradigm shift in the focus of the police and in the operational use of police time, energy, and resources toward crime prevention. The aim is thereby to reduce the number of victims and as a consequence make citizens feel safer in their homes ...