Explain how crime prevention lies at the roots of COPPS in both Sweden and France, as well as other similarities of their approach to, and practice of, this philosophy

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Sweden began laying its foundation for COPPS in 1972 with the establishment of a national centre for research, development and coordination of policing; the centre's aim was to educe crime at its social and community roots. A National Council for Crime Prevention was also formed to work with police, social services, and youth groups, and it soon possessed a vast databank of crime prevention techniques and began publishing the "best and brightest" ideas and programs among the local police departments nationwide. Eventually, local crime prevention councils were established in 232 of the country's towns and cities. This Council would also facilitate the introduction of community policing and provide a forum for the community as well as for the police. The Swedish police also became quite engaged in situational crime prevention, aimed at reducing actual crime rates in each neighborhood by removing persons and opportunities from the area. As a result, they engage in the mapping of crime and the evaluation of their COPPS efforts based on clear goals

As in Sweden, the development of COPPS in France over the past 30 years has been marked with tremendous progress in social crime prevention. A national report called for a social answer to the crime problem, and a national committee recommended that more power be given to communities to determine their own security programs; this prompted the national police administration to form its own council for crime prevention at the most efficient suppression level possible. Later, the Local Security Contract was created to further build partnerships between municipal crime prevention programs and the police. Then, in August 2002, the French Parliament enacted legislation that created the Local Security and Crime Prevention Councils to further integrate social crime prevention with security techniques. It can be fairly said then that COPPS in France is still evolving. While it has many enviable crime prevention innovations and has established COPPS permanently, the French police have been seen as slow and tentative in the entire process. As a result, a missing element of COPPS is community participation, which leads to repressive policies being instituted from the top down.36