Effectiveness of Fear and Crime Prevention Strategy for Sustainability of Safe City

Abstract

Crime is a manifestation of incivility that society attempts to curb, yet faces enormous challenges, as crime is a by-product of urbanization and human advancement. As more agglomeration of the population in cities around the globe, humankind’s safety from being threatened by crime needed to be safeguard to sustain everyday living in cities. Humans’ co-existence with crime and fear of crime in cities vis-a-vis efforts preventing it from occurring has been widely carried out in developed countries. An increasing trend is showing in emerging and developing countries. Therefore, this article provides empirical evidence regarding a safe city program launched in Malaysia. This study aims to identify the factors contributing to the prevention of crime and fear of crime. This study employed a survey questionnaire to 400 pedestrians’ perceptions of Kuala Lumpur city’s central business district. The result showed that prevention methods through the actor of “capable guardians” (i.e., authorities) are effective; however, methods through the actor of “suitable victims” (i.e., communities) is ineffective. Further studies should explore perspective of the actor of “likely offenders” (i.e., criminals) to fill in the gap of safe city program’s effectiveness and sustainability.

Understanding the position of urban spatial configuration on the feeling of insecurity from crime in public spaces

“…The sense of security in a gated community is formed by the developer's design and the resident community. Lim et al (2020) concluded that the biggest factor influencing security and reducing crime in public spaces is CPTED, rather than CPSD (crime-prevention methods through social development). ; ; ; found that women are more likely to feel insecure than men to do activities in public spaces due to the poor environmental design, such as poor lighting, narrow roads, too many bushes and trees that reduce visibility, and the presence of delinquents and sloppy people.…”

Does Facilitating Human–Place Bonds Alleviate the Negative Effects of Incivilities on Health?

“…Neighbourhood incivilities refer to two types of incivilities, namely: (1) physical incivilities, characterised by observable incivilities (e.g., broken glass, vandalism, and litter), and (2) social incivilities, manifested by disruptive social behaviour (e.g., public drinking and lewd conduct) [42,43], which may also be seen in the physical environment. Neighbourhood incivility encourages residents to allow breaches against social order and be less likely to interfere to deter crime and incivility [44]. Residents thus tend to spend their leisure time at home, and they are unlikely to be in community relationships [45], suggesting low social regulation.…”

Understanding and Acceptance of Smart City Policies: Practitioners’ Perspectives on the Malaysian Smart City Framework

“…Enhance safety and security [20,36,37] Promote quality housing [2,38] Optimize emergency response [20,39] Enhance quality of healthcare services through digital technology [40][41][42][43] Encourage urban farming for better living [23,44] Concerning the element of enhancing safety and security, one key initiative in Malaysia is the focus on crime reduction [36,45]. For example, under the safe city initiative through the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, a safer city can be created using several strategies, such as crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) and crime prevention through social design (CSPD) [46].…”

“…For example, under the safe city initiative through the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, a safer city can be created using several strategies, such as crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) and crime prevention through social design (CSPD) [46]. With CPTED, information and communication technology (ICT), and mechanical surveillance design initiatives are popular, including the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) in public spaces, IoT (internet-of-things) lighting, safety (panic button) alarms, and establishing GIS (geographic information system) mapping for crime detection [36]. In the case of the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, crime is always an important issue for the citizens and the city authorities.…”