Sustainability, Crime and Perceptions of Safety in Newcastle - Essay Example

Sustainability, Crime and Perceptions of Safety in Newcastle Introduction Any discussion of sustainability must commence with a re ment of the triple bottom line. A sustainable community is one that satisfies economic, environmental and social criteria. An economically prosperous community that is not pursuing sound environmental policies or social policies is not sustainable. Similarly, a community that commits itself to social goals but neglects its traditional economic bottom line will find that the tax base declines, services decline and social indicators of quality of life decline. A sustainable community is one that acknowledges the interconnectedness of social, economic and environmental goals and has a comprehensive set of policies designed to satisfy the multiple benchmarks that define sustainability. According to the Centre for Sustainable Development at Simon Fraser University in Canada, “Sustainable Community Development (SCD) aims to integrate economic, social and environmental objectives in community development.” (“Why Sustainable Community Development”) In the context of the city of Newcastle this cluster of goals and interrelated policies was compiled in The Australia Institute and Newcastle City Council authored report entitled, Indicators of a Sustainable Community, published in 2000. The report begins by noting, “Sustainability incorporates economic, social and environmental attributes of the City as they affect the quality of life of community members.” It goes on to note that sustainability is not a goal to be achieved but rather a process to be worked on with communities becoming more or less sustainable: “The challenge for policy makers and others involved in improving the quality of life in Newcastle will be to review these indicators over time and integrate them into management and decision making processes within the City.” The following brief report proposes to do precisely that, to review [one] of these indicators over time. The chosen indicator will be crime and public perceptions of safety. Is Newcastle becoming more or less safe over time? And, do local residents perceive themselves to be more or less safe now than they did one decade ago? Interestingly, both of these indicators are important although they may, at times, be contradictory. It is not unheard of for crime rates to be dropping in a community at the same time that residents perceive themselves to be less safe. Therefore, this evaluation of crime and public safety in Newcastle will be conducted through analysis of actual crime rates and public perceptions of criminality and safety. Discussion The Indicators of a Sustainable Community report clearly identifies as one Desired Outcome improving community perception of safety. It defines the benchmark for this as, “Measuring how fear of crime impacts on people’s decisions to participate in activities outside the home indicates the community’s perception of safety.” That said it can also be a notoriously difficult concept to measure. Crime rates can be measured relatively accurately and objectively based on police occurrence reports. The same is not the case with public perceptions of criminality and safety. The issue is further clouded, according to the report because data before 1999 is non-existent. That said, the report does draw comparisons between the Hunter region as a whole and the city of Newcastle: “This is the first time this data has been collated at a local level and it is therefore not possible to see a trend. However the regional score for the same questions was 3.7 indicating that the people in Newcastle are more concerned about their safety than people in other parts of the Hunter region.” In other words, in 1999 people in Newcastle perceived themselves to be less safe than people living in other parts of the region. The report also went on to offer some more specific observations: “Less than general agreement that public areas in Newcastle are safe.” “Car parks, Inner city parks and Newcastle’s West End were seen to be less than moderately safe.” “Across the planning districts the perceived level of safety at each of the locations was relatively similar, the main variation being the lower levels of perceived safety by Inner City residents.” Within the city of Newcastle public spaces, particularly those in the inner city were perceived to be notably unsafe a decade ago. The city of Newcastle responded one year later with a Crime Prevention Plan (2001). The criminal profile of the community included in the Plan acknowledged that property crimes exceeded the state average, as did assaults, and that both categories of offenses were linked to alcohol and illicit drugs: The nexus between illicit drug use and property crime has been well established. Similarly there is a strong causal link between alcohol and petty property crime, malicious damage, assault and anti-social behaviour5.... Discussions with local police Crime Intelligence Units indicate that there is a strong correlation between the consumption of alcohol and the incidence of Assault. The sustainability report and the crime prevention plan revealed key aspects of the challenge confronting sustainability in terms of public safety and crime in Newcastle. At the roots of the elevated rates of crime and elevated perceptions of citizen risk in public places, particularly in the inner city, was alcohol and drug abuse. In other words, public safety required earlier and more comprehensive interventions into the developing drug and alcohol problems of inner city youth. More recent evidence seems to indicate that the program to increase public perceptions of safety and reduce crime have met with limited and uneven success. Examining perceptions of safety in the Hunter and the entire state residents of the Hunter do not perceive themselves to be less safe than residents of the state overall. In only one category, safety alone in public after dark is there a statistically significant difference. If residents of Newcastle, or its inner city, felt notably unsafe this would be reflected in the figures for the Hunter relative to the state as a whole. In general it is not. However, specifically, it is in terms of public safety at night. Therefore, the one issue that was identified as key in 2000 and 2001 – public perception of safety after dark and in public in the inner city – may remain a problem. The government of New South Wales 2010 Performance Review also indicates that public perceptions of efforts to curb loutish, drunken public behaviour and graffiti are also not perceived to be succeeding. According to the Review, “Perceived problems with anti-social behaviour have remained stable” between 2005 and 2009. ( NSW State Plan: Annual Performance Report 2010. This is significant: Of one of the types of behaviour identified as making a key contribution to public perceptions of risk – loutish, public drunkenness – there is no public perception tat the situation is improving. Despite being the focus of public policy initiatives loutish, public drunkenness is still perceived as a significant problem and threat to public safety. The citys website would seem to confirm the persistence of this problem. A recent press release announces that the city is attempting “to combat confusion surrounding safe access to the cultural precinct”. (“Step into the Cultural Precinct”) If measures such as this are necessary in the summer of 2010 than the goal of increasing public perceptions of safety in the inner city is not being achieved. According to Director Future City Judy Jaeger, “We hope that this simple but effective campaign will reduce any confusion and provide people with a safe passageway, no matter what the weather.” If bad news crime stories like this are dominating the citys press releases than public perceptions of safety must not be improving. Conclusion The publication “Crime” in Newcastle and the Hunter Region, 2008 – 2009 identified three key issues at the root of crime and public safety concerns in the Hunter: Relatively lower income levels Higher levels of risk drinking among males. Lower rates of educational attainment in the Hunter. Earlier in this discussion the links between drug use (along with risk drinking were also identified. This cluster of issues low income and educational levels and elevated levels of drug and alcohol use are the key to addressing actual crime rates and public perceptions of criminality in the city of Newcastle’s inner city and neighbouring areas. This situation only serves to highlight the interconnectedness of issues that sustainability accents. Public perceptions of safety will only increase and crime rates will only decrease when lower income and education levels in the inner city are addressed. Treatment of issues of drug and alcohol dependence, not necessarily criminalization, is essential if public perceptions of safety are to be increased. Simply put, in a sustainable future, public safety will be treated as an issue with economic, educational and social precursors. Less than one week ago Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group completed financing for a A$900 million expansion of its terminal. Export capacity will rise to 53 million metric tons a year from 30 million tons now. (Sharples, 2010)That is creating an economically vibrant future for Newcastle. However, if that is not reflected in higher incomes in the inner city and more educational opportunities the economic growth will be undermined by persistent concerns for public safety. Works Cited The Australia Institute and Newcastle City Council (2000) Indicators of a Sustainable Community The Australia Inst, Sydney. Centre for Sustainable Development (2009) “Why Sustainable Community Development” Web. http://www.sfu.ca/cscd/. Accessed 11 August 2010. The Hunter Valley Research Foundation (2008) Newcastle and the Hunter Region, 2008 – 2009 The Hunter Valley Research Foundation, Newcastle. Web. Http://www.hvrf.com.au/download-publications/newcastle-and-the-hunter-region-ebook. Accessed 11 August 2010. The Hunter Valley Research Foundation (2008) “Crime” in Newcastle and the Hunter Region, 2008 – 2009 The Hunter Valley Research Foundation, Newcastle. Web. http://www.hvrf.com.au/images/HVRF_Publications/Newcastle__Hunter_Region/Crime.pdf. Accessed 11 August 2010. New South Wales Government (2010) NSW State Plan: Annual Performance Report 2010 Web. http://www.nsw.gov.au/stateplan. Accessed 11 August 2010. Newcastle Government “Step into the Cultural Precinct” Web. http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/news__and__events/media_releases/media_releases/step_into_the_cultural_precinct. Accessed 11 August 2010. Newcastle, Government (2001) “Crime Prevention Plan” http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/5552/crime_prevention_plan.pdf. Accessed 11 August 2010. Sharples, Ben (2010) “Newcastle Coal Group Completes Financing for $824 Million Port Expansion” August 10, 2010 Web. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/newcastle-coal-group-completes-financing-for-824-million-port-expansion.html. Accessed 11 August 2010. Read More