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What is Community Safety?

Community safety is defined as preventing, reducing and containing the social, environmental and intimidatory factors, which affect people’s right to live without fear of crime and which impact upon their quality of life. It includes preventative measures that contribute to crime reduction and tackling anti-social behavior. Community safety is about delivering local solutions to local problems. It is about improving the quality of life through multiagency partnerships between the public, private, community and voluntary sectors.

Derry Community Safety Partnership

A partnership approach to community safety in the Derry City Council area was initiated by Derry City Council in 2003. A wide variety of organisations, which had inherited a responsibility for community safety as part of their own work, were operating in isolation and there was a clear requirement for co-ordination and strategic direction.

The launch of the Northern Ireland Office’s Community Safety Unit Strategy “Creating a Safer Northern Ireland” in 2003, highlighted the critical role of local partnerships in helping to address local problems. The Strategy provided clear direction and focus and crucial funding which allowed the Partnership to develop into its present format. Derry City Council’s Community Safety Partnership published its own Community Safety Strategy 2005 – 2008, a year after its inaugural meeting of June 2003. Today, Derry CSP examines a range of issues relating to crime, fear of crime and education/awareness in the Council area and agrees initiatives to address underlying issues which cause concern to our citizens.