Crime & Safety

Authorities Offer Crime Prevention Tips

If you want to prevent crime in South Tampa's communities, check out 10 principles of crime prevention from the National Crime Prevention Council, provided by the Tampa Police Department:

1. Crime prevention is everyone's business

In order for effective crime prevention to take place, the members of the community must believe it is their responsibility to be involved. This involvement includes taking measures in their own home, personal security and the willingness to alert law enforcement and other members of the community to criminal/suspicious activity.

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2. Crime prevention is more than security Crime prevention involves more than just securing your residence. Crime prevention is a way of thinking. In order to effectively prevent crime individuals need to become involved as another set of eyes for law enforcement.

3. Crime prevention is a responsibility of all levels of government. Effective crime prevention is a combination of individuals, organized neighborhood watch groups, law enforcement and government. Each has an important role in the fight against crime.

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4. Crime prevention is linked with solving social problems. An essential requirement of crime prevention is a willingness to get involved. Whenever communities combined the talents of many of its citizens it allows the opportunity for examining and solving many root causes of crime. Many social problems lead to crime and by addressing those social problems communities are able to stop crime before it occurs.

5. Crime prevention is cost effective. A community plagued with crime is forced to spend more money just in an attempt to address the symptoms of crime instead of finding a cure. The costs include increased number of police personnel, higher insurance premiums and expensive home security devices.

6. Crime prevention requires a central position in law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies exist to protect the public. With this in mind, law enforcement agencies must have crime prevention as a key part of their strategy in protecting the public.

7. Crime prevention requires cooperation by all elements of a community. Effective crime prevention requires cooperation and involvement. When a neighborhood does not cooperate with crime prevention then basically it does not exist in that area. There must be effective cooperation between all aspects of the community. If a group of residents decide not to get involved then law enforcement will not be alerted to potential criminal activity until after it occurs and sometimes not even then.

8. Crime prevention requires education, continual testing and improvement. It is important to remember that criminals are continually looking for better ways to victimize society. Knowing this common sense demands that crime prevention techniques must be reexamined and improved in order to stay ahead of the criminal element.

9. Crime prevention requires tailoring to local needs and concerns When a community decides to become actively involved in crime prevention it can draw upon the techniques and strategies used by other communities. It is important to realize that a strategy that worked for one community may not be suited for the other. An example of this would be aspects of crime prevention in urban areas as opposed to crime prevention in rural areas.

10. Crime prevention improves quality of life for every community and residents By bringing the community together in a joint effort to fight crime the community becomes closer, barriers are broken and communication improves. When crime is prevented people are more likely to get out more and patronize local businesses. Crime prevention allows an additional opportunity to law enforcement to interact with the citizens thus helping to break down barriers that may exist.


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