Saferworld Working for the prevention of armed violence Safety and security Safety  Reduction of risk to a tolerable level  Degree of freedom from unacceptable risk Security  An individual or state’s feeling of safety or well-being, protected from attack or violent conflict  The control of threat, integrated with an appropriate response capability

Saferworld Working for the prevention of armed violence Community safety An environment (enabled and supported by community policing) in which all members of a community, particularly the vulnerable, live in a healthy and safe environment, without fear of crime, intimidation, disorder or anti-social behaviour Community members must have fair access to public services, facilities and utilities

Saferworld Working for the prevention of armed violence Any issue that has negative effects on the safety of the community, or its members, can be considered a community safety issue Should include all ‘quality of life’ issues, such as crime, drugs, road safety, community conflict, weapons proliferation and land- mine contamination Community safety

Saferworld Working for the prevention of armed violence Why work on community safety issues? Communities are unsafe and security needs to be provided or improved Insecurity at the local level makes people’s quality of life poor, inhibits business activities and economic development, and can lead to violent conflict The provision of security/safety by the authorities (often the police) may be of low quality and may not always reflect community priorities

Saferworld Working for the prevention of armed violence Why work on community safety issues? Very often, communities are excluded from planning and decision-making when it is them that security is supposed to be for Security agencies may be poorly resourced, poorly trained and can be unresponsive to local people’s needs

Saferworld Working for the prevention of armed violence Why work on community safety issues? Just like the state as a whole, security provision has tended to be centralised, making it ‘remote’ from local residents Safety/security problems are often deep-rooted and connected to exclusion, poverty and unemployment as well as crime, ethnic division and past conflicts Other government services – such as health and education – do not tend to take public safety into account