How You Can Help?
By becoming a member you can have you say on Crime & Justice in Cairns and the surrounding area and become involved with safety issues within our community and discuss ways so that our community is safe.
There is no fee to become a member but if you would like to donate that would be greatfully received which will help with stationary and postage.
Newsletters will sent out periodically either by post or email which will enable you to be kept informed of up to date information and events.
Meetings are usually held twice a year or when required and you will be informed of the venue, date and time.
Should you wish to know anything about this organisation please contact us by pressing the "contact us" button and enter your query and we will reply ASAP.
Your particulars will not be disclosed to any other source and will be treated strictly confidentially.
How can I help to make RAC work
· Get to know your neighbours. RAC works better when neighbourhoods are united. One way to start is to knock on neighbours’ doors and introduce yourself.
· Join a Neighbourhood Watch group. It’s your neighbourhood – keep an eye on it. If there’s no group in your neighbourhood, ask your RAC how to start one.
· Attend RAC meetings. Get the word out on when and where meetings will take place. Encourage your neighbours to attend. Meetings can be a great opportunity to air concerns and agree on solutions.
· Talk to your community police officer. Report any suspicious activities. Pass along any information that could help the police prevent or solve a crime.
. Talk about your concerns, but don’t forget to show your support.
· Don’t wait for someone else to take the lead. Everyone in the community shares the responsibility for keeping our neighbourhoods safe.
NEIGHBORHOOD CRIME PREVENTION AND SAFETY.
What do you think?
THE SAFETY OF A NEIGHBORHOOD is an important indicator of its overall economic and social health. Neighbourhood crime prevention efforts are essential. Safe neighbourhoods are necessary to foster common values and community quality of life. Neighbourhood crime, on the other hand, creates fear and distrust among residents.
Crime is more common in poorer neighbourhoods with high population turnover density where bonds between residents are vulnerable. Crime also flourishes in neighbourhoods where there are more opportunities for violence, such as illegal drug and alcohol.
Left unchallenged, neighbourhood crime contributes to community neglect and disintegration. There are few incentives to invest, either economically or socially, in an unsafe neighbourhood. Residents are suspicious of each other and become demoralised about their neighbourhoods, inhibiting cooperation.
Community networks formed by youth emulating positive adult behaviour suffer when people are fearful and distrustful.
Creating safer through communities through neighbourhood crime prevention programs is one way to disturb this negative feedback circle that weakens communities.
The famous “broken windows” theory may constitute a way to break the cycle of community violence.
Minor signs of neglect and disrepair, such as abandoned buildings and cars and street litter, send a message of neglect and absence of community behavioural standards.
As a result, gang activities, drug markets, prostitution, and violent crime worsen . “Zero tolerance” policies that crack down on these minor offences are based on the broken windows theory.
At the same time, it is notoriously hard to disentangle the effects of resident fear, illegal activities, and social breakdown on neighbourhood safety. Neighbourhood crime prevention efforts must not neglect the deeper factors that create crime in the first place—lack of economic opportunities and weak social bonds between residents. In practice, efforts to create safer neighbourhoods must go hand in hand with other community development activities such as attracting jobs and increasing access to affordable housing.
Organisations wishing to lead neighborhood crime prevention programs should:
Assess the state of neighbourhood safety and create a master plan for action. Conduct environmental surveys of the neighbourhood, involving police and parks departments. Note places without adequate lighting and landscaping. Are there a lot of green areas, or is there lots of stone landscaping (possible fodder for rock throwing)? Note the traffic patterns in the neighbourhood. Which routes are used by residents, and where does there seem to be a lot of out-of-town traffic? Illegal drug markets are often located near roads with easy access to highways. Work with power companies to fix broken streetlights. Coordinate landlord communication, which is often sporadic or completely absent in high crime areas. Troublemaking residents who are evicted often move to a nearby building with a new landlord. Sharing information on troublesome residents can make it more difficult for them to spread destructive behaviours. Communication also creates the opportunity for landlords to put informal pressure on each other to maintain the inside and outside of their buildings and their landscaping, which discourages crime and fosters resident trust. Work to establish a community policing program. Community policing stresses problem-solving, frequent police contact with residents, and flexible intervention. The biggest value of community policing is the partnerships it fosters with existing community programs, if implemented correctly. Good programs do a great deal to reduce residents’ fear of reporting crimes, even if their effect on crime rates is still unclear It is imperative, however, to ensure that police support the program and are committed to share decision-making power with neighbourhood groups. Long term neighbourhood crime prevention strategies: Evaluate the program not only in terms of crime rates, but also using common sense measures that tap into how ordinary people live. Could a person walk through this neighbourhood to work an 11 pm shift? Would mothers with children feel safe playing in a park? Have property values increased?. In fact, expect reports of some crimes and disturbances to rise after the project begins. Residents will have less fear of crime and more trust in police. Sustain support by police and other community organisations, or else crime levels and fear will probably revert to old levels. Keep computerised records detailing neighbourhood projects and community contacts. It is crucial to keep a paper trail because attrition is often high among residents and businesses in many higher-crime areas. Keep other agencies, such as transportation and council parks departments, involved. What may not work in neighbourhood crime prevention: Zero tolerance has a mixed record. Cracking down on minor crimes is often useful in the short term, but over time it also makes it hard for offenders to obtain jobs and can weaken families. It also can alienate residents from police. Zero tolerance programs should be implemented with community input and aimed at strengthening social organisations (such as enforcing loitering laws so a group can meet in a park). Complete alcohol bans will not always prevent violence. Although these programs generate publicity, in the Far North Communities that have a blanket ban on alcohol which only leads to people leaving their communities and travel south to places like Mareeba and Cairns etc so that they can obtain their alcohol. Neighbourhood watch are at best a short-term solution. It is better to focus on structural constraints to safety, such as police response to residents’ calls. Neighbourhood watches should never try to assume the roles of police. Thriving Neighbourhoods: Shelter, Safety, Opportunity Thriving neighbourhoods provide shelter, safety, and opportunities for residents to build strong relationships with other neighbours, and contain institutions and agencies that link residents to needed services. Strategies to prevent crime, to ensure an adequate supply of housing, and to help residents build assets play a crucial role in strengthening neighbourhoods. |
Crime in Cairns Janury-December 2010
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Residents Against Crimes Founder - 2007
I am dedicated to help prevent crimes in Cairns and the surrounding area. This city has unfortunately gone from bad to worse in regards to crime and we the residents of this great city need to band together and put pressure on our local representatives and let them know that we will not tolerate this behaviour. I will continue to pave the way for better living in peace and enable families and kids to enjoy the life the we enjoyed years ago without the fear of being assulted. This is not about me its about the community working together to make this a better place to live.
REMEMBER: TO BE A GREAT CITY, IT FIRST MUST BE A SAFE CITY.
