Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Nacro Community safety practice briefing

July 2001

Statutory guidance lays a duty on community safety partnerships to involve faith communities in their work. But what does this mean in practice? This briefing, written for both community safety professionals and members of faith communities, sets out:

• the advantages to both sides of closer engagement

• the effects of crime on faith communities and how they work to reduce crime

• a strategy for involvement, including ground rules and practical steps

In times of conflict between different ethnicities, nationalities or cultures, religion can function as a support for people, and as a means of fostering dialogue. It can also be a spur to hatred for some people.

The seeds of inter-religious conflict are present in many areas, and community safety partnerships will need to take account of these by involving all faith communities in the process of social renewal.

There are practical reasons for community safety partnerships and faith communities to engage each other on community safety:

• Faith communities are both victims of and responders to crime.

• Faith communities have access to networks and resources that can build safer communities.

• Faith communities provide a range of community services - day centres, homelessness projects, etc - that help build social capital and improve the well-being of the community as a whole.

• Faith communities include people who community safety partnerships may often find it difficult to reach and contact.

• Proper preparation and sensitive involvement can bring dividends.

• Faith communities are often at the centre of healing divided and disadvantaged communities and are also often victims of crime.

• The legislation for community safety partnerships on consulting communities requires that faith communities be involved and consulted.

Contents

• Introduction

• Working together: the advantages

• Some context: faith communities in the UK

• Faith communities and crime

• Involving faith communities: first principles

• Laying the groundwork for constructive engagement

• A practical strategy: steps to involving faith communities

• Useful resources

• Bibliography and further reading

• Footnotes

Getting a copy

Friends or strangers? Faith communities and community safety PDF 59Kb