Taking back your neighbourhood

There’s an initiative in the United States called ‘Taking back your neighbourhood’ and every so often I find a news story about a community in the US that is doing just that.  Taking back your neighbourhood is all about a community taking a stand against violence, drug use and anti-social behaviour. The initiative brings together the local community, the police, the local authority and others to protest and take action; sometimes to alter a built environment that is giving the opportunity for crime to take place.

This News 7 story from Jackson, Mississippi demonstrates the sort of things people can do if they’re organised, in this case demolishing and or repairing what they call ‘nuisance properties’. There are examples of this work in the UK, but you rarely get to hear about them on our news channels.

If you lived next door to a nuisance property of the type shown in the video I’m sure you can imagine the relief you would feel at its departure!

I’m still waiting for the launch of all the political parties’ manifestos to see what they’re saying about crime prevention.  So far the Labour Party mentions that they will promote ‘proactive crime prevention’. Let’s see what the others have to say.

News 7 story http://www.wdam.com/story/28793586/taking-back-our-neighborhoods-community-improvement