Positive as well as preventive actions are important to sustain or rekindle community ties. Crime Prevention is a Responsibility of All Levels of Government Local, state, and federal governments share in the responsibility for facilitating community efforts and for providing local law enforcement agencies and citizens with the necessary crime prevention tools. Every level of government can play an integral role in enabling and encouraging communities to develop and sustain crime prevention efforts. Help could come in the form of leadership, technical assistance, training, policy, in-kind resources, or direct funding. The assistance should aim to make community efforts easier and more effective, and augment those programs already in existence.
Government can serve as partner, catalyst, leader, or resource in crime prevention efforts.
Government's ability to help enact missions, goals, and objectives for crime prevention is in itself a sizable resource. Formal and informal cooperation both among government agencies and between agencies and non-government groups can substantially enhance the effectiveness of all. Prevention includes, but cannot be limited to, reducing the immediate opportunities for crime to occur. The most effective programs are those that, while paying due heed to immediate needs, reach out to correct the causes - the factors that lead to crime. Providing positive alternatives, developing and strengthening family and community bonds, and meeting community needs are critical elements in changing attitudes and enhancing the impact of crime prevention.