Safety Audits - What is Next?
Julie Dean
Safe City Coordinator
Safe & Healthy Community Advisory Committee, City of Kitchener,
Ontario, Canada
Summary
Pilot projects are being implemented in Kitchener
based on research and community-driven Safety Audits commissioned
by its Safe and Healthy Community Advisory Committee. Projects
account for private property and public considerations - ex.,
standards for new street lighting and retrofitting (adapting)
old lighting were based on pedestrian experience, not merely
traffic requirements.
While local research on the economic impact
and fear of crime has persuaded some
politicians and planners to "revitalize" downtown
city cores, resources for research and safety audits are scarce.
Recommendations for partnering with universities to pool resources
and reduce costs:
- Offer to present information to urban planning
students or to supervise their thesis; offer practical research
experience to social research methods students to get programs
evaluated or surveys completed;
- Assist with audits of campus, residences,
school routes;
- Suggest your local university apply for
funding under the CURA program (Community-University Research
Alliance).
Suggestions for "infiltrating" Municipal
Government to gain support and resources:
- Invite politicians and management
staff to participate in safety audits and training; present
safety audits to Mayor;
- Build partnerships with other citizen-based
Committees which advise City Council;
- Incorporate safety audit recommendations
into departmental work plans so that recommended work will
be included in budgets;
- Ask that contractors tendering urban development
bids and landscape maintenance workers be made aware of safety
audit principles; ensure that planning documents such as design
guidelines for private and public sites incorporate safety
audit principles and standards;
- Develop programs addressing specific safety
audit concerns (ex., community-awareness campaign, community
gardens, youth grants).
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Factors
that facilitated the process
1) Kitchener background: presentation of safety audit
results by a subcommittee to the Mayor’s Task Force on the Downtown
(The safety audits had been done by the Sexual Assault Support Centre
with the help of METRAC and delivered to City Hall.). An interdepartmental
working group revisited them and made recommendations and determined
the budget allocations required. Recommendations of the Task Force
resulted in the establishment of a Safe City Committee and budget
allocation in 1995. Full-time staff resources were not provided.
2) The Kitchener Safe and Healthy Community Advisory
Committee is a Committee of City Council made up of politicians, residents
and citizens with full time staff support; it has annual budget allocation.
Members contribute to subcommittees – one of those, the Safety
Audit Working Group, helps facilitate the audit process upon request
from the community. I, as coordinator, helped to develop an internal
City process and implementation follow-up with community participants.
3) Safety audits in Kitchener are community-driven.
Strong and active neighbourhood associations (often predominantly
women) make it easier to conduct safety audits.
4) On Lighting Downtown was a study commissioned
by the Safe City Committee. A number of pilot projects for different
street types are being implemented in the core. Lighting standards
for new development and retrofitting the old were developed based
on pedestrian experience, not merely traffic requirements. Results
of safety audits were taken into account and the scope included private
property as well as the public realm.
5) An annual Lighten up Campaign seeks to encourage
residents to help contribute to the streetscape through lighting of
their houses and apartments.
6) Partnership development with universities, women’s
and community organizations has helped us to pool resources and conduct
research.
7) Local research on fear of crime and the economic
impacts is persuasive to politicians and planners trying to ‘revitalize’
downtown city cores.
Factors that hinder the process
1) Resources are scarce. We have partnered with others
who already have programs on the go or are developing such as:
- active and Safe Routes to School program
- neighbourhood watch
- community information forums
2) The educational process is ongoing and it’s
hard to find the time to do that important piece.
How to "infiltrate" the municipal government and gain resources
My thoughts about how to "infiltrate" the
Municipal Government and gain resources are as follows:
1) Invite plans review staff to participate in a safety
audit.
2) Invite politicians and management staff to participate in safety
audit training.
3) Contact the Risk Manager of public organizations .
4) Present safety audits to Mayor and C.A.O. of City or Regional Government
.
5) Approach the Committees of Council which are citizen-based groups
which advise the government. See if there is one that you can work
with such as barrier free/accessibility, community safety, economic
development, ethnocultural… the entry point is not as important
as gaining access to the structure.
6) Find an advocate within the municipal structure and build the relationship.
7) Incorporate the safety audit recommendations into departmental
work plans so that work can be costed into budgets.
8) Ask that landscape maintenance workers be made aware of safety
audit principles.
9) Ask that contractors who are tendering bids on road reconstructions,
new buildings and parking garages to review existing safety audits.
10) Ensure planning documents such as design guidelines for private
and public building and site development incorporate safety audit
principles and standards.
11) Develop specific programs to address concerns from safety audits
such as Lighten Up campaign, Graffiti Busters program, Mural Mentoring
program, community gardens, youth grants, Little Black Book.
You can also use schools and universities as a resource.
1) Approach universities and offer to present information
to planning students.
2) Offer to supervise students doing their thesis.
3) Assist with audits of campus, residences, school routes.
4) Offer real life opportunities to classes in Social Research methods
to get your programs evaluated or surveys done.
5) CURA project (Community-University Research Alliance). Suggest
your local university make an application for funding under this program.
Available resources
I am bringing some hard copy examples to pass around
and CD’s with safety audit and spin-off projects that I’ve
worked on for hand-outs. The contents are as follows:
1) 2001 audit form (adapted for use for project with
University of Waterloo in a core area).
2) Background Jamie mthbp (safety audit and survey background)
• Also see Powerpoint presentation: MHBP_Pres
• See Safety audit report: MHBP audit.
3) Cedar Hill safety audit (report and audit findings organized in
summary sheets).
4) CURA Projects – Core safety audits and pedestrian survey.
(Community-University Research Alliance)
5) Graffiti Busters incl Community Srvcs –Final
(Powerpoint Presentation)
6) Lighten Up – DRAFT ONLY
(Draft paper describing a public awareness campaign and survey)
7) Safe & Healthy – final draft (draft terms of reference
for the Safe & Healthy Community Advisory Committee).
8) Safety Audit-class pres (Powerpoint presentation) (Relates safety
audit checklist to "crime triangle" of victim, perpetrator
and environment).
City of Kitchener Website: http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca
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