“Celebrate Safe Communities” Set For October Launch

October is Crime Prevention Month. It’s time to plan what you are going to do for your Celebrate Safe Communities project!

By Megan Greene, NCPC Intern

It’s just one month until October and the beginning of Crime Prevention Month. Has crime in your community decreased or increased lately? Do residents feel safe in their homes and neighborhoods? Have local schools had problems with crime? Have senior citizens in your area been the victims of scams? What can residents do to help themselves and law enforcement? Watching the news and reading the newspapers, it can sometimes seem as though crime is sweeping across our country. Stories of fraud, theft, and violent crime are so prevalent that getting involved in crime prevention can seem overwhelming. Although crime rates in the United States are dropping, crime has increased in some communities this year.

Whether your community is trumpeting good news about lower crime or discussing how to combat a worrisome new trend, your success in sustaining effective safety initiatives is linked to how well residents work with one another and with law enforcement to watch out and help out in the fight against crime. And with October being Crime Prevention Month, there’s no better time to focus on the role of citizens than now, particularly with the launch on October 2 of a new national initiative, Celebrate Safe Communities, which NCPC is conducting in partnership with the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

As NCPC President and CEO Alfonso E. Lenhardt explains, “Crime Prevention Month highlights the importance of taking individual and collective action to remain safe. It reminds citizens to protect themselves, their families, and their communities from crime. It highlights the actions people should be taking to protect what’s important to them.” Crime Prevention Month gives people the chance to take an inventory of ways to actively participate in crime prevention. Go to NCPC’s website for teens and adults, www.ncpc.org, or its website for kids, www.mcgruff.org, and you will discover many ideas for projects in just a few minutes. Crime Prevention Month reinforces all the ways people can stay safe, and it reminds folks that crime prevention and safety are everyone’s business. Celebrate Safe Communities will help local law enforcement agencies and their community partners kick off celebrations of Crime Prevention Month with special crime prevention events and activities.

Celebrate Safe Communities’ national partners urge block groups, neighborhood associations, faith-based groups, schools, seniors groups, military installations, businesses, and civic organizations to reach out to their local law enforcement agencies to organize crime prevention activities beginning October 2 through October 4, the launch dates of Celebrate Safe Communities in 2008. Safety fairs, graffiti paint-outs, park cleanups, and “take back the streets” parades are all examples of possible Celebrate Safe Communities activities, which can take place throughout October. Visit the Celebrate Safe Communities website at www.celebratesafecommunities.org to register your local event, learn what other communities are doing, and download tip sheets and other tools to help you educate and mobilize neighbors of all ages. An electronic press kit at this website will help you gain media attention for your project as you help “Take A Bite Out Of Crime®.” Communities that register their projects at this site are also eligible for recognition through an awards program.

Local Celebrate Safe Communities events will help Americans of all ages recognize that a safer community is no accident and that crime prevention is everyone’s business every day of the year!