Safe
Communities
When you think
about your neighbourhood do you think that it is a safe place
for your children? Would you be happy letting children in your
care roam freely around your street? Play in the park by themselves,
cycle, or walk without adult supervision? Do you worry about fast
cars, littered paths, overhanging shrubbery, dodgy roads or stranger
danger?
Prevention
is the most powerful tool in the fight against unsafe neighbourhoods
and becomes even more effective when people in the community work
together. There are three important ways for communities to safeguard
themselves: raising awareness of dangers in the neighbourhood,
uniting residents in caring for the community and providing safe,
skill-building opportunities for children.
Be
aware
Parents and
children alike should be aware of the potential dangers that can
exist in a community, as well as the safe places and resources
that are available. Repetition is the key to success. If you bring
your safety ideas into your child’s life and make the experience
a lifestyle, instead of a safety lesson, you’ll find they
respond more positively. By repeating these points as often as
possible, children will quickly learn what they should and shouldn’t
do to be safe. Here are some tips:
- Listen
to what your children tell you about their lives – friends,
school, worries, and fear. Make sure you know your child’s
friends and the friends’ parents.
- Check out
the neighbourhood with your child. Find out whether he/she feels
safe or unsafe. Work with neighbours to address problems such
as unsafe “shortcuts”, dangerous intersections,
areas where shrubbery needs trimming back, and a lack of safe
places to seek help.
- Urge kids
to play in groups, which are far less susceptible to an approach
by strangers.
- Set up
clear rules for play after school, on weekends, and during summer
and holiday times. Review them regularly with your child.
Be
involved
Safe communities
also require a contribution from the residents. Two organizations
have been very successful in this area: Neighbourhood Watch and
Block Parents. Each program, in its own way, has encouraged neighbours
to help make their community safe, by watching out for children
and each others property.
Neighbourhood
Watch brings neighbours and police services together to make neighbourhoods
more safe. The programs have proven very effective in reducing
crime and building safe communities. In the City of London, 76%
of residential break and enters take place outside Neighbourhood
Watch areas.
Neighbourhood
Watch involves: a commitment to improve your home security; a
commitment to be concerned about your neighbour’s property
as well as your own; and a commitment to report any crime that
is occurring and any suspicious activity to the police and then
to your neighbours. By taking a proactive approach to safeguarding
the neighbhourhood, communities are also building better relationships
with local police forces. The police would much rather spend time
preventing crime than investigating it after the fact.
The first
Block Parent program started in London in 1968. It has a presence
in each province and territory, and is now the largest volunteer-operated
child safety and crime prevention program in Canada, with more
than 300,000 participants. Block Parents offer their home as a
place of safety, not just for children, but for anyone who is:
being bullied, lost, hurt or ill, caught in severe weather or
frightened by a stranger.
The mandate
of the Block Parent Program is to provide a network of police-screened,
easily recognizable, safe homes for members of the community,
especially children, to turn to in times of distress, It educates
children about the program, safety on the streets and safety within
the home. It develops promotions and materials to educate the
community about the Program, latch key children and street proofing;
and to work together with the police, educators and other community
groups toward safer communities.
Be
Active
Encouraging
children to participate in activities in a secure environment
is another key to creating safer communities. Not only do these
activities provide an atmosphere of safety for children and parents
alike, but it provides them with growth opportunities that can
build skills and self-esteem, and channel their energies away
from disruptive or criminal behaviour.
In London
alone, there are many organizations that offer programs for children
that cover a wide range of skills and opportunities. This ranges
from arts and culture, to sports, to homework and after-school
programs, to scouting and much more. These programs are organized
and sponsored by all sectors of the community, including municipal
governments, neighbourhood organizations, community service groups,
local businesses and volunteers.
To celebrate
the 20th anniversary of Neighbourhood Watch in London, a special
Concert in the Park is planned for Friday June 6, 2003 from 7
pm to 10 pm at the Bandshell in Victoria Park. The concert, sponsored
by Bellone Music and the New PL, will feature Duty Calls (a London
Police Services band), the Chris Murphy Band, face-painting by
Laffguards and displays.
For more information
on street-proofing children, visits http://www.canadianparents.com/articles/feature99h.htm
