Case Study

Abstract

North Battleford in west-central Saskatchewan in Canada, and Roma in Queensland in Australia, are rural communities which share several similarities. Canadian and Australian rural crime rates are often higher than urban crime rates. In 2014, North Battleford created a community safety strategy to address ongoing crime issues, reduce victimisation and build local business and capacity. As part of this strategy, four municipal employees attended a SafeGrowth training in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. SafeGrowth involves four stages. In North Battleford, participants conducted a local risk assessment and determined that residents felt unsafe in the downtown area, attributed to high levels of social and physical disorder and the lack of maintenance. This discouraged residents from using the downtown area, and that further contributed to fear of crime and safety concerns for individuals who worked downtown. The local homeless shelter was an area of significant concern for residents and business owners, as it appeared to contribute to physical disorder.