• South Africa's key knowledge hub for finding and publishing knowledge resources, good practices, events as well as thematic information on a wide spectrum of topics related to community safety as well as violence and crime prevention


• A central online knowledge sharing and networking space for practitioners from government, civil society and academia working towards community safety and violence and crime prevention in South Africa to showcase their work, share their knowledge resources, announce events, connect with and learn from each other


• An effective support to the South African community safety and violence and crime prevention agenda, informing on and supporting safety-related processes, developments and events.


• Prevent and combat anything that may threaten the safety and security of any community


• Investigate all crimes that threaten the safety and security of any community;


• Ensure offenders are brought to justice and participate in efforts to address the root causes of crime.

Education

Little education directly related to crime prevention has been done by local councils. This is to be expected given that education is not a local government competency. However, in relation to crime prevention there is a role that local government can play. For example, in Pretoria, there has been education on what a council official looks like and what their various roles are. Similarly, a youth project in the Centurion Town Council has attempted educate children about what crime is and their role in reporting crime.

Promoting Social Cohesion

This aspect somewhat vague and potentially any project can be seen to 'promote social cohesion'. Promotion of social cohesion most likely refers to conflict resolution, reconciliation, and rebuilding the 'social fabric' of our society through the promotion of institutions that are sources of 'social capital'. Little of this work is traditionally done by city councils in South Africa, however some such projects may be run by civil society organisations or government departments (such as welfare) at national or provincial level. What is necessary is for those working on the promotion of social cohesion to identify the crime prevention benefits of their existing programmes, and the opportunities for working with cities, rather than the councils' safety and security departments inventing new programmes on social cohesion and making these their core business.

Supporting youth, families and groups at risk

as vital to effective social crime prevention, both internationally and in South Africa. Given that many cities are now working from a social and situational paradigm, youth are a central target for crime prevention activities. In South Africa, councils devote some resources to youth development activities, but often do not maximise the crime prevention potential in these. Only a few councils have undertaken programmes that are explicitly aimed at youth crime prevention

Preventing crimes against women

or women's affairs department, few have initiated crime prevention programmes aimed at reducing levels of victimisation among women. The City of Cape Town municipality offers self-defence classes to women and provides information pamphlets on how to avoid becoming a victim of crime. In both Johannesburg and Cape Town, safety audits for women have been conducted in order to make environmental changes that will improve women's safety in particular parts of the city.

Breaking cycles of crime

The prevention of repeat victimisation, and preventing victims from becoming perpetrators of violence is relatively under-developed in South Africa. Support to victims of crime is essential because "victims of past criminal activity if untreated, frequently become perpetrators of either retributive violence or violence displaced within the social or domestic arena" (NCPS, 1996, p.20). The cities have traditionally not been involved in victim empowerment.

Promoting individual responsibility

Again, this is a rather vague responsibility delegated to local government in the White Paper, and it is difficult to determine the extent to which crime prevention programmes do promote individual responsibility. Few existing local government prevention programmes target individuals, with most focussing on urban design or the management of groups seen to be a threat to safety and security. However, aspects of crime prevention programmes that raise awareness of crime and encourage people to report crime (such as the youth project in Pretoria) can be said to incorporate this aspect of social crime prevention.

The need for research and evaluation

Although many crime prevention projects have been initiated in the cities, most have not been based on adequate research. A clear research agenda is necessary in order to establish what projects are likely to have the greatest impact on crime in the city, and what the priority sites for intervention should be. It is essential, in the face of limited resources, that the projects being implemented are those that will be successful. In order to ensure this, all projects implemented by cities should have built-in monitoring and evaluation systems, to determine the costs and benefits of the project, and to respond to aspects of the project that are not as effective as anticipated. This information could also assist other cities considering South African best practices. The main reason why monitoring and evaluation are such a necessary part of programme implementation is because the crime prevention benefits of projects are often assumed rather than tested. For example, it may be assumed that council officials are "doing crime prevention" because they are out patrolling. This does not provide any information about whether they are patrolling the most crime-ridden areas, and whether they have training on identifying crimes and dealing with perpetrators and victims of crime. It also does not show whether the presence of council officials is a deterrent to potential criminals or whether the general public can even identify those on patrol as council officials.