Community Crime Prevention Guide
Printable Version (PDF/1.4MB)
Sources of Support
Funders
Most projects need financial support, whether it is a small donation from neighbourhood residents or a major investment for a long-term activity. There are a number of sources of funding for crime prevention activities, including federal and provincial ministries, municipal governments, corporate sponsors, community foundations and service clubs.
Federal
Public Safety Canada, Crime Prevention
(Look under "Funding programs.") At the federal government level, the National Crime Prevention Centre offers the following funding programs:
- Crime Prevention Action Fund (CPAF) – supports community projects where policing, community health, voluntary and private sectors work together to enhance community capacity to prevent crime through social development.
- Youth Gangs Prevention Fund – supports projects in communities where youth gangs are an existing or emerging threat and supports initiatives that clearly target youth in gangs or at greatest risk of joining gangs.
- Research, Knowledge and Development Fund – supports a range of activities and research that identify and analyze gaps in the current body of knowledge related to crime prevention in Canada. Projects are intended to demonstrate what works and what is promising in reducing risk factors associated with crime and victimization.
Provincial
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Community Safety and Crime Prevention. At the provincial level, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General victim services and crime prevention division offers the following funding programs:
- Civil forfeiture crime remediation and crime prevention grants – support communities for projects that address crime, violence and victimization.
- Safe Streets and Safe Schools programs – supports community and youth organizations, local governments, school districts and police departments for strategies that enhance public safety and local crime prevention efforts.
- Restorative justice: community accountability programs (CAP) grants – support projects that hold low risk, youth and adult offenders accountable for their actions.
Initiatives in Canadian Municipalities
The Institute for the Prevention of Crime at the University of Ottawa coordinates the municipal network on crime prevention. The network includes Vancouver, Surrey, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Waterloo Region, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Saint John and Halifax.
It works together to improve the capacity of municipalities and regions to develop and sustain crime prevention and community safety initiatives. By fostering a network and organizing conferences and workshops to share knowledge and experience, this collaboration identifies gaps and needs for more effective prevention strategies.
Resources
The Key to Safer Municipalities: Developed with the assistance of the Institute for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC), this toolkit contains fact sheets that provide communities with information required to identify unique risk factors and safety problems, secure political commitment, develop partnerships, engage citizens and develop an action plan. For information on how to obtain a copy, contact ICPC at cipc@crime-prevention.intl.org.
Another ICPC publication, Making Cities Safer: Canadian Strategies and Practices (PDF/1.05MB) describes activities and governance structures in each municipality belonging to the municipal network on crime prevention, along with strengths and weaknesses and recommendations for the future.
The Primer: Municipal Crime Prevention (PDF/1.08MB) The Federation of Canadian Municipalities provides practical tools to assist municipalities to plan and undertake crime prevention strategies based on the basic principles of leadership, partnerships, safety diagnosis, action plans, implementation and evaluation.
The Primer provides guidance on how to organize a local council, identify local problems, develop an action plan, plan crime prevention programs and undertake, monitor and evaluate interventions.
Workshops and Training
RCMP Crime Prevention Workshops: Crime Prevention through Community Partnerships: This two-day workshop allows local RCMP detachments to bring in a trained facilitator to assist your community to identify local issues, assets and solutions. Contact your local RCMP detachment or e-mail: cpcp@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
BC Crime Prevention Association: Annual crime prevention training event provides participants with training in crime prevention leadership.
