Public and Private Partnership in Community Safety: A Focus on Business
Crime Prevention and the Private Sector
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role of the private sector in crime prevention. However, this short phrase opens the door to a large area of interest. Just how is the private sector involved in crime prevention? As the ICPC will devote its 2005 International Colloquium to an overview of accomplishments to date and potential for the future of private sector involvement, the question is of some immediate importance. Since there is already extensive involvement of communities and civil society in prevention, we consider it useful to begin by limiting our consideration to action by commercial businesses, recognizing that in some countries this could extend into public and community sectors. So we won’t expect the dividing lines to always be clear.
Two years ago, the Justice Ministry of the Netherlands compiled a document which explored how the private sector might be convinced or encouraged to be more active in prevention (Victor Jammers, Director of Crime Prevention). The document began with another important distinction- that many businesses are active in preventing crime of which they themselves are the victim (eg. employee theft). Community Safety: What Role for Business?An Interview with Ms. Eleanor King,
Executive Director, National Crime Prevention Center, Canada
MS. King is the Executive Director of theNational Crime Prevention Center, Canada. She brings a wealth of experience to the National Crime Prevention Strategy in terms of her work in the criminal justice system and her knowledge of community based programs. In addition to holding both a Bachelor and a Masters degree in Social Work, she has twenty-five years of experience in the justice field, with a number of years in a management capacity. Early in her career, she also worked in the fields of medical social work and family therapy.
ICPC- Can you describe how the Business Action program (BAP) supports Canada’s National Crime Prevention Strategy?
E.K.: Canada’s Business Action Program makes grants available to non-profit private sector funded initiatives which have the potential to reduce the risk factors associated with crime. Since 1999, the Business Action program has funded 72 projects, 44 of which are now completed. The BAP is designed to encourage the private sector to become active partners in community safety as both leaders and resources. It is jointly managed by the National Strategy and the Business Network on Crime Prevention (BNCP). The BNCP is comprised of 8 non profit business associations. Public-Private Partnerships and Security TechnologiesThe following interview focuses on the issue of public-private collaboration in crime prevention in general, and in particular, it highlights one of the ways in which the private sector has collaborated with the public sector in crime prevention--through the use of security technologies such as Closed Circuit Television (CCTV). The implementation and expansion of CCTV in countries such as Australia, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom and the USA, continues to be hotly debated among governments, crime prevention specialists, university academics, civil libertarians, and business. Some of the issues which form part of this debate include: privacy rights, the effectiveness of CCTV in crime control and prevention, information and guidelines concerning regulation and controls, cost-effectiveness, and the degree of public review.
In addition to the reports produced by the Security Industry Association, we include a list of recent articles, reviews, papers, books which focus on the issues surrounding the use of CCTV in public spaces review (click here).
Interview with Richard Chace,
Executive Director,
Security Industry Association
Richard Chace is currently Executive Director for the US- based Security Industry Association (SIA). In this role, Richard is responsible for Industry Relations, Strategic Planning, and acts as the association's chief liaison and strategist for government affairs. He has written and coordinated SIA's Second, Third, and Fourth annual CCTV for Public Safety reports and the 1998 report supplement CCTV vs Privacy, all of which examine the uses of closed-circuit television as a crime fighting tool by public and private law enforcement sectors.
Mr. Chace has served as an industry representative to the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Private Sector Liaison Committee, the US Commerce Department's Intelligent Transportation System Committee, and the National Institute of Justice's Office of Justice Programs. He is also a member of several associations such as the Mid-Atlantic Make a Wish Foundation- Public Relations Society of America, and the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives.
|
