Crime rates in big cities have steadily increased over the years creating much concern and worry over the safety of particular areas. There are however, some cities that have done certain methods to lower the crime rate or to keep it constantly lower than other metropolitan areas in the world. Some of the cities that are known to have implemented methods such as using surveillance video cameras or a video surveillance system is London whereas other deterrents have been successfully implemented by places like New York City and Stockholm, Sweden to make them safer for the people that reside and visit there. This article will look into some of those changes that these cities have done to make the crime rates go down or stay low in the first place.
London, England has not had a great reputation for being a particularly safe city as far as big European cities go in the past. After all, the old Jack the Ripper story happened from London. Today is a much different place, however, with London being one of the safest European cities around and the rate of catching criminals in their acts is very high. Installing more video cameras within the city limits of London helped decrease criminal behavior more than any other city in the world. On just one block you may have 4 to 5 various viewpoints from cameras surveying the location to catch an illegal act or some type of violent behavior.
Another city that has tried to clean up their act as far as crime is concerned is New York City. Since he became mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani was displeased with the way Times Square was turning into a crime ridden place of prostitution and drugs. This area was then slowly turned into a family friendly tourist location making it a much safer place for people to go by bringing in family friendly retail such as Disney and American Girl and by raising the number of the police forces on foot and on horse by 3 times the amount. The combination of more police officers and bringing in new types of business completely changed the Times Square area to be a fun safe destination for tourists to go now.
Another place that has stayed above their crime rates and have one of the safest places in the world is Stockholm, Sweden. Part of this is from the stringent laws that are set and the low overall crime rates within the entire country. People tend to be happier and less stressed in Scandinavian countries and the lower crime rates shows that. Everyone does their part to take care of their neighborhoods there to keep them clean and to look out for each other and this sense of strong community has been one of the best crime deterrents around.
If other cities could follow some of these examples, the world would be a safe place. Not a bad thing to hope for.
