Safe Neighbourhoods: A Guide to Community Action

Heather Stillufsen

England is a relatively safe country compared to some others, but still half of young women report harassment in the last year (in France, 25% of all women fear walking alone in public places, with many being verbally harassed).

Obviously don’t walk down dark alleys if you can avoid it, but there is much that town planners can do, to make streets safer for women (and children and all people). Experts recommend:

• Well-lit pavements (use orange wildlife-friendly lights)
• Wide pavements that accommodate prams, pushchairs and wheelchairs
• Avoiding ‘hidden areas’ where prowlers could lurk unseen
• Quick easy access to public transport
• Solar bus stops (that light up when someone is waiting for a bus/train

She City is a book showing town planners how to redesign cities, towns and villages to make women feel safer walking, especially at night. It focuses on walkable communities (so females who don’t drive, don’t have to walk down alleys or along carriageways to buy food). A birthday book for your councillor!

Also download free reports: designing safe cities for women and travelling in a women’s shoes.

Clever apps to keep women safe

There are many good apps that let users alert others if they feel unsafe (from producing ‘fake’ incoming calls, to alerting others where you are):

• HollieGuard shares your location every 5 seconds, and features a personal alarm and evidence catcher. HollieGuard Extra can be used to trigger a response from emergency services.
• WalkSafe can track journeys, share locations and find ‘safe spaces’.
• bSafe enables emergency response teams to act within seconds. It uses voice command (even if your phone is inaccessible), with live GPS tracking and auto-response communication.
• EPowar offers instant emergency alerts, automatic attack detection, and reliable storing of evidence on the Cloud. You can also store live location with selected friends.
• Safetipin clicks photos every 30 minutes at night, and can send info to report how safe women feel on streets, public transport or at public toilets. Again you can send a tracking request if you feel unsafe, check out nearby safe places to wait for help, and find the safest route.

Tips to prevent stalking and rape

Warning signs of stalkers include people showing up uninvited, repeated calls, text messages or gifts, someone trying to track movements, contacting your family or friends, and being watched or monitored (including online).

If safe to do so, tell the person to stop contact, and keep a record of messages and incidents. If you feel at risk, share worries with someone you trust. Rape Crisis or Victim Support give practical advice. Police also have dedicated officers to help (call 101 or 999 in an emergency).

It’s time to learn self-defence

Streetwise Defence offers in-person and online self-defence classes for people of all ages and sexes. Also ideal for workplaces, schools and community groups. Learn how to get out of a stranglehold or grab, to make a quick getaway. There’s also a free mini-course.

These classes were created by a former kick-boxer (and his wife), who decided to use their immense knowledge, to create empowering self-defence courses.

Set up a neighbourhood watch 

Nikky Corker

Although England is a pretty safe country in comparison to some, it does have higher crime than many other countries (Switzerland’s murder rate is around 45 people per year, compared to 600 in England and Wales).

Lack of funding for our police is one factor, but there are many ways to help our police forces, which don’t involve money.

Create Neighbourhood Watch schemes (this is where groups look out for each other in communities, reporting odd behaviour). The site has good crime prevention advice.

Burglary prevention tips

Most police work is for so-called ‘minor crimes’, although having your house ransacked does not feel like a minor crime. But there are simple steps that can deter burglars:

• Place ladders, bins and rubble, out of sight.
• Buy quality locks for doors, gates and bikes.
• Don’t leave items in view from windows.
• Live simply (so you don’t have expensive jewels to steal).
• Mark items of value with security marks.
• Use a reputable burglar alarm like Verisure
• Don’t tell people on social media, if you  go away.

Other tips for safer communities

• Report crimes (including anonymously) including rural/wildlife crime
• Ask the police for help from a Designing Out Crime Officer
• Install emergency call points to let people report areas they feel unsafe. Calls can be anonymous (people with hearing or speech impediments can pre-register, to call by text).
• Employ Special Constables: These are volunteers who patrol parks, schools and shops, and can step in, before situations escalate.

What neighbourhood watch schemes do

• First, share trusted information. That might include official alerts, patterns people have noticed (without guessing who did it), and reminders about reporting routes. Speed matters, because early reporting can stop repeat attempts.
• Second, reduce opportunities. Small fixes make a difference, because many crimes are opportunistic. Think good locks, lights that work, bikes secured properly, sheds locked, and car doors checked. These aren’t flashy actions, but they remove the easy wins.
• Third, look out for neighbours, especially those who might struggle. That could mean helping someone set up a door chain, offering to collect parcels when they’re away, or checking in after a worrying incident.

You won’t make crime vanish. However, you can make your area feel less “unguarded”, and more connected. That alone can deter low-effort trouble and help people feel confident at home.

• You don’t need a committee, a logo, or a long meeting. You need a clear patch, a few helpers, and one way to communicate (remember that many people don’t use smartphones or What’s App).
• Choose an area you can realistically cover. One street is ideal. A small block, a short row of terraces, or a couple of nearby closes also works. If you go too wide, messages become vague and people disengage.
• Next, find two or three neighbours to help. Try to balance personalities and skills. One person might be good at organising, another at calm communication, and another at spotting practical fixes.

Then agree one starter goal for the first month. Keep it concrete, for example:

• improve front door security
• reduce shed break-ins
• set a safe parcel routine so deliveries aren’t left on show

How to help reduce knife crime

Amber Davenport

The media often focuses on the scary rise in knife crime in England. In 2024, England had 50,000 knife crimes (and increase of 80% in 10 years).

Yet nobody in the media (or in politics) seems to focus on the  fact that over the border in Scotland, knife crime rates have dropped to almost zero.

A few years ago, Scotland’s streets were very dangerous (in the cities), but their communities and police forces found answers, and now we can learn from them. In 2017 England and Wales had a combined 35 knife stabbings, whereas Scotland had none. So how did they do this?

By doing the same as Norway. Instead of ‘locking people up’, Scotland’s police forces have developed good relationships with residents and communities. With regular education and knife amnesties.

Some people are not aware that to carry any pointed or bladed article in a public place without good reason (say if you work as a chef) is against the law. And under ‘joint enterprise laws’, you can be prosecuted along with the stabber, if you are in the same group when the crime occurs.

Carrying a knife also makes you more likely to become a crime victim, it does not make you safer (a stab anywhere on the body, not just the chest) can be fatal, if the blade hits an artery.

Billy’s Wish is a charity founded in the name of an innocent victim of knife crime. It offers free resources for all schools.

Give (anonymous) information on knife crime

Fearless is a site to give information (anonymously) about a crime or fight that has taken place, or is planned. The site has a quick close tab and there is no browsing history, personal details or IP address taken.

You can also give information anonymously at Crimestoppers (in some cases there are rewards, collected anonymously using a bank code).

Steel Warriors is a London charity that melts down knives taken off the streets, then uses the steel to make ‘street outdoor gyms’ for young people.

Report Crime and Wildlife Crime (anonymously)

Crimestoppers is an independent charity (which also lets you report wildlife crime anonymously), that gives communities the power to stop crime, by anonymously reporting concerns (by phone or online, every day of the year).

Crimestoppers is not the police. For emergencies, obviously call 999 (and don’t waste their time – some people have called, due to not completing a crossword answer?)

Began as a Community Action Trust in 1988, it was founded for a way to people to come forward with information about the murder of PC Keith Blakelock, during the 1985 London riots. Police knew that some people knew who was responsible, but were too afraid to come forward.

Since that time, they have listened to millions of people (most reports are now online), with appeals having resulted in over 140,000 arrests. Co-founder Lord Ashcroft is an interesting character. A former Conservative politician, he has signed up to The Giving Pledge (where the world’s wealthiest individuals pledge to give most of their wealth to good causes).

He is also passionate about wildlife. He campaigns against whale harpooning, captive breeding and trophy hunting (since the sad death of Cecil the lion, over 60 wild lions have been killed by British hunters). The ban has been delayed, by some peers in the House of Lords.

In 35 years, this charity’s guarantee of anonymity has never been broken. Yet it also offers rewards to some for giving information. Just ask for a reward code when you first speak to a call agent, or enter REWARD REQUEST in the online form. Then log back in 24 hours later, to get your reward code.

This can then be used to pick up cash rewards at designated banks, without need to show ID, using a secret password and pickup date.

Report wildlife crime Anonymously

Ailsa Black

Wildlife crime isn’t just “country things”. It can happen on footpaths, riverbanks, farmland edges, parks, and even gardens. It includes harming protected species, illegal hunting, illegal trapping, and damaging habitats. As a single incident or over weeks.

Examples include poison bait, trapped birds of prey, disturbed badger setts, illegal hare coursing, deer poaching, illegal netting or fish trapping (including eel traps), trading protected species, and damage to nesting sites.

If you’re not sure whether something is illegal, report what you saw anyway. Investigators can sort out the legal detail later. Wildlife offences often happen in remote places, so location matters even more than usual. A “field near the woods” is hard to search. Try to note:

• Grid reference or What3Words, plus nearest road or parking spot.
• How people accessed the area (gate, track, footpath).
• Vehicle details, including number plates and where parked.
• Number of people and what they were doing.
• Weapons, traps, nets, or lamps, if seen.
• Unusual smells (like chemicals), without getting close.
• Dead or injured animals, seen from a safe distance.

Take extra care around suspected poison. Don’t touch bait, and keep children and pets away. Report urgently, because poison can harm pets, wildlife, and people.

Crimestoppers also run regular campaigns

• Setting up Neighbourhood Watch Schemes
• Targeting retail crime, shoplifting and money laundering.
• Preventing irresponsible use of fireworks (near police forces)
• Stopping exploitation of vulnerable workers
• Preventing rural crime and illegal dumping of waste.

Crimestoppers website has a whole suite of good information on keeping safe, which is a good read for personal use, businesses, councils, schools and communities. It covers:

• Personal safety (domestic abuse, weapons crime, child neglect, sexual harassment and stalking, violence against sex workers, theft, hate crimes, mobile phone safety, identity theft and staying safe abroad.
• Home and property safety (preventing home burglaries and vehicle theft). Plus tips on online safety, fraud prevention, scams and fake bank notes.
• Rural crime – tip on preventing theft, arson, fly-tipping and wildlife crime (birds of prey, badger baiting, hare coursing, harming bats and illegal poaching).

When it is an emergency: call 999

Call 999 when there’s danger now. That includes ongoing violence, serious threats, burglary in progress, arson, or someone carrying a weapon. It also includes active wildlife persecution (setting dogs on animals, using traps, placing poison bait).

999 is not an anonymous service. The call handler may see your number, and the police may need a statement later. Still, you can say early on that you’re worried about your identity, and ask for your details to be kept private. Call handlers deal with this every day.

Keep it short at the start. Share the things that help officers arrive quickly:

• Exact location (road name, nearby landmark, postcode).
• What is happening now, in plain words.
• Descriptions of people, vehicles, and clothing.
• Direction of travel (towards high street, down the lane, northbound).

If you can’t stay on the line, say so. If you can, stay nearby at a safe distance and update what you see.

Not urgent? Report to 101 (or online)

Use the non-emergency route when the risk isn’t immediate. For example, you notice suspicious activity, you find damage later, or you spot signs of something illegal the next day.

If you give your details, ask how your information will be handled. You can request that the police don’t share your details with the suspect. Some forces can flag reports as restricted or confidential. It doesn’t guarantee you’ll never be contacted again, but it reduces the chance your name goes further than it needs to.

In many cases, police can act on intelligence without using you as a witness. Sometimes they need a formal statement, but should explain your options.

Also think about your own ‘digital footprints’. If you post on social media, you can accidentally reveal where you were standing, who you were with, or what time you were there. That can undo anonymity in seconds.

Photos or video can help, but only if it’s safe and legal. Don’t trespass to get a better angle. Don’t confront anyone. Don’t touch items left behind, because you could destroy fingerprints or contaminate evidence. Save files securely, and avoid sharing them publicly before reporting.