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Articles on Community safety

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Regular physical activity helps to prevent and manage many chronic diseases. Amorn Suriyan/Shutterstock

Children and teens aren’t doing enough physical activity - new study sounds a health warning

Factors such as having supportive family and friends, safer communities, positive school environments and adequate resources, are often associated with more physical activity.
There are currently at least four major calls to defund police forces in Canada. Here, hundreds of people participate in a Black Lives Matter demonstration in front of Saskatchewan’s Legislative Building in Regina on June 2, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor

A better future: How to defund and reimagine policing

Another world is possible when we defund and reimagine policing as we know it. A review of police budgets could mean more money towards community initiatives.
Bicycle police officers keep an eye on Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto on Sunday, May 24, 2020. Warm weather and a reduction in COVID-19 restrictions has many looking to the outdoors for relief. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

99% of Ontario’s funding for community safety and well-being pads police budgets

The provincial government has funding to support non-police safety and well-being initiatives — but 99 per cent of it just supplements police budgets.
Governments should adopt measures that have been proven to be effective or at least show promise. Shutterstock

3 ways to help sex offenders safely reintegrate back into the community

Governments impose harsh restrictions to the freedom of sex offenders after their sentence. But there’s no evidence to support that ‘doing more of the same’ improves community safety.
A car is set alight during the 2005 riots that prompted soul-searching in France about segregated and badly designed housing projects. A.J./Wikimedia

When neighbourhoods become dangerous, look to local strengths for a lifeline

Planning matters. The 2005 riots in France started in badly designed housing projects, while innovative planning helped Medellín, Colombia, shed its reputation as the most violent city in the world.
It’s important to young Australians to be able to walk and feel safe while doing so. Victoria Walks ©

Young people want walkable neighbourhoods, but safety is a worry

The benefits of walking are widely promoted, but most Australian communities still aren’t walker-friendly. Young people, who rely heavily on walking to get around, are clear about what has to change.
Highton Shopping Village in Geelong. Leila Farahani

This is how to create social hubs that make 20-minute neighbourhoods work

Low-density suburbs can cause social isolation that’s harmful for individual and community well-being. But research confirms we can plan neighbourhood centres so they become vibrant social hubs.
Policewomen lock hands during a protest march in Nigeria.Collaboration between police and communities is helping improve safety in parts of the country. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

What we can learn from communities in Nigeria on how to improve security

A new study shows an amazingly symbiotic relationship between the community and police in Nigeria: 70% of survey respondents claim that collaboration has brought safety to their communities.
Mandurah is an example of built density without intensity: five-to-ten-storey buildings with generous public space but a population density less than your average suburb. Kim Dovey

How negative-gearing changes can bring life back to eerily quiet suburbs

Curbing negative gearing will help get empty housing onto the market. This could go some way to bringing life back to relatively dense urban centres that are oddly lacking intensity of public life.
A boy contemplates the guns handed in during an amnesty for gang members in Panama City. How do communities respond to violence? InSight Crime

Preventing violence: maybe communities know better

Many communities struggle with crime, violence and abuse, but they are not all the same. Those that look to local expertise for solutions offer hope in a world where success in preventing violence is rare.
A NSW programme in which prisoners train stray dogs as part of their rehabilitation is one of a number of innovations adopted in recent years. AAP

Crime and punishment and rehabilitation: a smarter approach

Approaches to crime that rely on punitive methods have proved to be ineffective and counter-productive. Rehabilitation programmes not only prevent crime, but are cost-effective and practical.

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