These community police officers have been able to increase their visibility and accessibility in the neighbourhood by patrolling on bicycles.
Cities can tackle many of the risk factors associated with crime.
They can take measures that will reduce the opportunities for crime, making the offender's task more difficult, more risky or less rewarding. While they do not have full leverage on social policies, city Governments remain the closest political body to the people and they can adapt national programmes to their communities' specific needs, recruit key intervenors and win public support. Finally, cities are best able to promote, encourage and support solidarity and empowerment of the community. More recently, major conferences have pursued many of the same issues on a regional basis. Most of the meetings produced declarations on the importance of investing in crime prevention and on adapting the positive experiences from other areas of the world to their own.