Crime prevention partnership: Lessons from practice

Crime prevention is a good idea - it must be as it is practiced in one form or another the world over. If crime prevention is good idea, then making it happen through multi-agency partnerships is even better: everyone should work together to reduce crime. Since 1996, South African policy on crime prevention has reflected these good ideas. Well intentioned, infused with a communal spirit and sufficiently vague to please and incorporate just about everyone, the policy advocates integrated action between government departments (in all three spheres), non-governmental organisations, the private sector and community organisations. Since then explanatory manuals have been printed, countless informative workshops held and numerous projects of varying scope and scale have been implemented. But what has been learned? This book is intended to outline, and draw lessons from, some approaches towards the implementation of South Africa's crime prevention policy, specifically those that have sought multi-agency participation. It is written for practitioners in government, non-governmental organizations and in the donor sector in the hope that it will stimulate debate and, through this, a more thorough approach to crime prevention in South Africa.