Page 21 - ARUBATRAVELLER 22AUG,2015
P. 21
roads leading into San Nicolas, there grow up in these places. It affects the knowledgeable law enforcement Commercial and retail establishments
is a business place where the (front) neighborhood. A healthy neighborhood agency in the conceptualization and have always used the physical
facade is covered with barbed wire, absorbs a public housing project and planning of community projects, can environment to affect customers’
making it look like a prison. What kind makes it part of its social fabric. This is lead to improvement in the quality perceptions and behavior. Crime has
of an impression does this give to the what we should strive for. of life and reduction in the fear and unfortunately become a fact of life. Most
residents? What do tourists think, when incidence of crime. times, we have focused on intervention
they pass through this neighborhood? We have been reading, hearing, and instead of prevention-leading to arrest
How long will a potential investor This early involvement is one of the and punitive measures.
stand still in this area? The situation discussing many concepts of crime most cost-effective methods of crime
gets even worse a little distance away, prevention. The police are not in the
where an old, abandoned house is prevention, community policing, business of telling other professionals
rotting and falling apart. This house of how to do their jobs. The role of law-
broken and barricaded windows and community-oriented policing, enforcement is to ask questions, The time has come for the community
doors serves as a dwelling for chollers share ideas, and provide
and all kinds of rodents. Then there environmental designs for crime information that to examine ways to eliminate or
are the broken sidewalks. Trenches are would otherwise
often dug right in front of the entrance prevention, etc. These are just new be unavailable reduce crime to create a safer
of your business, where they remain to builders,
unattended for weeks or sometimes names for good-old-fashioned policing. designers, and environment. Our biggest challenge is
even months. planners.
There is no panacea for stopping crime to discover methods to combine
The aforementioned examples are
not only a nuisance, but also present and social ills. Many of efforts do not environmental design with
potential safety and health hazards.
When you have these kinds of situations yield results because we have not cooperation between
next to yoW’ business or properly, you
can only expect negative results. These properly understood the concept nor citizens and authorities
are situations that create fear and will
negatively influence yoW’ business. the problem we are trying to address. to curb crime, reduce
When the competent authorities do
nothing about these situations, they are Today there are more broken families fear, and thus improve
contributing to the decadence of your
neighborhood. and homelessness, a growing anger on the quality of life for
the part of the disadvantaged and a rise all.
in violent crimes.
How do we stop doing things the way
we have always done them and start
doing them in a way that would best
meet the new demands placed upon
us? It is enormously difficult to break
old patterns of thinking and acting,
and the changes needed seem too
difficult to achieve, so we often end
up making only token gestures to
our good intentions.
Special attention should also be given We cannot expect
to government housing projects, the so to solve social
called unrest solely
“cas di pueblo”. These houses are by the crime
generally built too small and too close fighting
to each other. There are no garages and approach
no washing rooms, almost no gardens, to policing.
no community houses, no recreation Building
facilities, and no public street lighting. architects
There is no privacy, neighbors interfere will have to
with each other, and there is little consult with
integration with the rest of the island the police on
community. Once build and occupied, planning
the inhabitants are left there with no and design.
further guidance.
Police
Without stereotyping too much, we
can say that these housing projects officers will
are prone to become problem areas
and may even lead to ghetto forming. also have to
High police assistance to these
areas is not uncommon. When these spend more
housing projects are built in your area,
business people tend to fear vandalism time on social
and nuisance. Homeowners fear
devaluation of their property. Not in problems if they are
a broad radius is there ever an ATM
machine to be found. The reason for to minimize the cost and
this is obvious: Uncontrolled criminal
activity in public areas, especially pain of social unrest. They
housing, affects the quality of life in
the project. It affects the perception should work cooperatively
and subsequent development of
attitudes and behavior of children who with building contractors,
architects, engineers,
public works, and planners
to design and construct
building projects that can
reduce both fear and crime.
Infrastructure development
has often followed, rather
than preceded, growth.
Early involvement of a
ARUBA TRAVELLER - Saturday, August 15 2015 21LOCAL
