All people want their community to be a safe and prosperous place in which to live and raise a family. However, criminal and infrastructural problems can prevent your community from being as safe as you would like it to be. There are community development techniques that you can use to help your neighbors and city officials improve the safety and attractiveness of your neighborhood.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Interact with your community
Step 1. Get to know your neighbors
Even if you are not the most outgoing person, do your best to present yourself in front of your neighbors. It can be as simple as saying hello to them when they pass the sidewalk or waving when you work on maintaining your lawn. Developing relationships with your neighbors benefits both parties to build trust and friendship, in order to make your community a better and safer place to live.
Block parties are great places to get out and meet your neighbors. Offer to host an American barbecue or party in the summer months to bring the residents of your community together in a relaxing atmosphere
Step 2. Get involved in a community development initiative
Community development is important to ensure that everyone in your neighborhood feels familiar with each other and knows the safety goals of the community. In addition to safety, community development can help neighbors build friendship and make the neighborhood a pleasant and inclusive place to live.
Community development initiatives such as the “National Night Out”, which takes place in the United States in August, are excellent ways for your community to come together and for you and your neighbors to participate in the public order of your locality
Step 3. Learn about your local police
It helps if you know what initiatives the police are going to implement to combat crime in your neighborhood. If members of your community can help you pay attention and report potentially suspicious activity, it builds a relationship between your neighborhood and the police. These relationships help prevent crime by employing a fraternal strategy for community safety.
Step 4. Spend time outdoors
Just seeing residents outside and active in their communities is sometimes enough to ward off potential criminals. A neighborhood with empty streets with unsocial residents will have the opposite effect.
Jogging or walking around your neighborhood, reading a book on your front porch, or working in your yard are excellent examples of how to be present in your neighborhood
Step 5. Prioritize access to all residents
Don't focus community safety just on reducing crime. Community safety is a comprehensive goal that also includes access to children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
For example, the collapse of the sidewalks represent a safety risk for children who ride bicycles on the sidewalks and for people who use a wheelchair to move along those sidewalks. For the safety of these individuals, it is important that this issue is addressed as part of community safety
Method 2 of 3: Create a sense of community pride
Step 1. Install a neighborhood watch system
A neighborhood watch system is a group of community residents who monitor the community from time to time in order to provide safety and well-being for its residents. This system helps reduce community crime, as well as promoting a sense of pride and safety for neighborhood residents.
- Neighborhood watch systems are about more than just catching criminals or preventing crime. For example, if your group of neighborhood watch volunteers are watching the neighborhood, they may see a lost child or pet and help them get home. They can also see smoke coming from the window of a house and alert the fire department.
- Many police officers are happy to provide training or to meet with neighborhood watch groups for advice and training. Contact your local police station to see if they offer these services.
Step 2. Check your local businesses
When you spend money locally, neighborhood businesses prosper. When your community has a thriving business economy, there are fewer buildings and vacant lots, which can be havens for criminals. A thriving business location also helps promote a sense of community pride.
Instead of going to a chain store or restaurant, go to your local coffee shop and meet the owner. Not only will you contribute to your local economy, but you will promote safety and a sense of community by meeting others who work in your neighborhood
Step 3. Make sure your community looks well preserved
It's hard to be proud of your community if it is in decline. As much as possible, strive to preserve and enhance the appearance of your community. Encourage residents to preserve the exteriors of their homes and gardens. If possible, create community green spaces, such as parks or gardens, as these are great for preventing crime.
A great way to improve and invest in your community is to start a community garden. Community gardens have been shown to enhance neighborhood property values and develop a sense of community among participating gardeners. They also prevent crime by reducing the amount of vacant vacant lots
Step 4. Talk to your city or district council about community safety measures
Sometimes neighborhood maintenance goes beyond what residents can do for themselves. At this point, it is appropriate to involve a municipal or district member to discuss how to implement community safety measures.
For example, if your neighborhood has poor lighting, it is a security risk on many levels, because criminals feel safer from committing crimes in the dark, and residents who walk at night may not be seen and could be injured. with the vehicles that pass through the streets. The municipality will have to install better lighting, because it is an important development project that cannot be carried out by residents alone
Step 5. Formally request improvements in your community
Go to town hall meetings and keep a formal list of requests from your community representatives. Having that list in writing gives the city government something concrete to work on. Be sure to detail the ways your applications will improve your community by making it a safer place, both in terms of access and reducing crime.
Depending on community needs, examples of community improvements that your neighborhood can request from local governments are the repair or creation of well-marked bike paths, youth centers, or accessible and safe playgrounds for the use of neighborhood children
Method 3 of 3: Do your part for your home
Step 1. Invest in a home security system
These systems prevent theft and crime by providing a direct line to emergency services from inside your home, whether you are at home or not. If burglars find that your home is equipped with a security system, they may not break into it and may be targeting an easier target.
- Only share your security code with people you completely trust. If you think that someone who is not trustworthy has obtained the code, change it as soon as possible.
- Choose a security system with an illuminated motion sensor. When these systems detect movement, they turn on the light, making it easy for you to see the person approaching your house.
- Some home security systems include cameras. Make sure you invest in high-definition cameras so that if your home is ever burglarized and the cameras capture photos or videos of the perpetrator, the images will be clear enough to give you a good picture of the thief.
- Don't give burglars a chance to hide or stalk your home. If possible, keep bushes trimmed and leave your porch lit. You want your home to be as unattractive to criminals as possible.
Step 2. Install window shades for your privacy
All people love light and airy places. It is important that you install window shades so that your belongings are out of sight of potential thieves. It is extremely important that you keep them closed at night, which is when it is easiest for burglars to look at your home to see what they can steal when you are not there.
Step 3. Lock your doors and windows
It is a basic security measure, but an important one. Before you leave the house or go to sleep at night, make sure all your doors and windows are locked, including your garage door if you have one.
This also applies to your car. Make sure all windows are closed and any valuables are out of sight or stored in the trunk
Step 4. Install timers on your lights and TV
Timers help you control when your lights and TV turn on and off when you're not at home. This gives the illusion that someone is home and can scare off potential thieves.
Many timers can be programmed from afar with your cell phone and even have a battery backup in case there is a power outage
Step 5. Get your name from the outside of your house
Providing personal information in your mailbox or outside of your house invites thieves to know who lives there. For your safety and anonymity, do not put your name outside your home.
Step 6. Let your neighbors know when you will be out of town
If they monitor your home when you are away, ask them to look out for any suspicious activity. When you are not at home, give them the authority to report any strange activity or suspicious person to the police or neighborhood watch group.