In search of safety? The governance of crime and the ‘re-moralisation of city spaces’

Nick Fyfe

Scottish Institute for Policing Research

& University of Dundee

The governance of crime and safety in the neo-liberal city

J.G. Ballard’s Super-Cannes – life in Eden-Olympia

The governance of crime and safety in the neo-liberal city

‘What about crime’, I asked. ‘It looks as if security might be a problem’…

‘Forget about crime. The important thing is that residents of Eden-Olympia think they’re policing themselves’

‘They aren’t but the illusion pays off’.

‘Exactly’

(Ballard, 2001: 19-20)

The governance of crime and safety in the neo-liberal city: the relevance of Eden-Olympia

• Security as a prerequisite for attracting people and capital;

• Changing modes of governance with respect to crime and safety – Garland’s ‘cultures of control’

Outline

• Crime control and community safety in the neo-liberal city: ‘sovereign state’ and ‘responsibilization strategies’

• Safety and the ‘orderly street’: from ZTP to CCTV

• Safety and behaviour in residential space: ‘neighbours from heaven’ to ‘neighbours from hell’

Crime control and community safety in the neo-liberal city

• Sovereign state strategies (robust control and punishment) and responsibilization strategies (prevention and partnership)

• Responsibilization: ‘the state works through civil society and not upon it’ (Garland, 2001)

• ‘The promotion of crime control in and by the community, and by means of multi-agency partnerships of the agencies of both state and civil society, represents a major shift in how we think about the governance of crime’ (Hughes, 2002)

Crime control and community safety in the neo-liberal city

• Reactivating ‘the old myth of the sovereign state:

• Three strikes

• Minimum sentencing

• Zero-tolerance

• ASBOs

Safety and the ‘orderly street’: from ZTP to CCTV

• ZTP…• Reclaiming the streets

for the ‘respectable citizens’ or the destruction of the ‘benign disorder’ that is crucial to street life?...

• The ambivalence of ZTP tactics….

Safety and the ‘orderly street’: from ZTP to CCTV

• CCTV• A ‘silver bullet’ of crime

control or the re-moralisation of city centre spaces?

• Fusing urban regeneration and community safety agendas

Safety and behaviour in residential space

• Neighbours from heaven’: gated communities

Safety and behaviour in residential space: gated communities

• ‘There’s a perception of safety among residents that may not be real and could potentially leave one more vulnerable if there was ever an attack’ (Low, 2004)

• ‘Are children growing up in gated communities more afraid of people who live outside the gates and of being hurt by a random act of violence?’ (Low, 2004)

Safety and behaviour in residential space: gated communities

• Richard Sennett The uses of disorder

• ‘Disorderly, painful events in the city force us to engage with ‘otherness’, to go beyond one’s own defined boundaries of self and are thus central to civilised and civilising life’

• Gated communities and the moral geographies of the city

Safety and behaviour in residential space

• Neighbours from hell? ASBOs

• The state has ‘new powers to deal with minor offences and other crime which are scarcely less draconian than those to deal with suspected terrorism’ (The Economist, 2005)

Safety and behaviour in residential space: ASBOs

• Crime & Disorder Act (1988)

• Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003)

• Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005)

• Links to ‘broken windows’ thesis…

• Blurring the sovereign state and responsibilization approaches…

Safety and behaviour in residential space: ASBOs

• ASBOs, social life and social justice in the city

• Blurring the boundaries between criminal and non-criminal conduct

• Social residualisation and the public housing sector

• Compounded forms of citizenship

Concluding comments

• Do people feel safer as a result of these interventions?

• Might ZTP, CCTV, gated communities and ASBOs be counter-productive in attempting to offer reassurance?

• ‘At its best, urban culture involves some kind of accommodation between provocation and stimulation, on the one hand, and security and stability on the other (Robins, 1995)

J.G. Ballard’s Super-Cannes – life in Eden-Olympia

‘Societies that dispensewith the challenged conscienceare more vulnerable thanthey realize’