M
any reports on major national
initiatives like the Crime Reduction
Programme acknowledge
‘implementation failure’. Common
explanations are ‘poor project-management
skills’,or ‘short-term funding regimes’.
Important as these are,Heraclitus’excellent
Soapbox article (‘Good Practice - What’s it
all about?’ Network News,Winter 2005) also
blamed ‘dumbing down.’
Higher echelons in crime prevention often
believe ‘The only information you can hope
to get into practitioners’heads is a slogan
or two,if lucky.’ I totally disagree. Crime
prevention’s basic idea is simple (cutting
the cause cuts the risk),but its practice
is complex