From policing to sustainability: Rethinking pathways for safer neighbourhoods in border communities

Abstract

While scholars have explored the dynamics of African border communities focusing on context-specific everyday practices of crime prevention and safer neighbourhood strategies, attention is often directed to community policing than other strategies. Relatively little attention has been dedicated to exploring how sustainable and fair development practices can make neighbourhoods safer. This study aimed to address this gap by exploring how sustainable and fair development practices intersect to prevent crime and encourage the emergence of safer neighbourhoods. The study employed a qualitative methodology where fifty participants were purposively selected to take part in the study due to their expert insights on community policing and sustainable development practices. Data for the study were gathered through key stakeholder interviews and focus group discussions with security operatives, household heads, youth leaders, and chiefs in the border community of Paga. To link sustainable development practices and safer neighbourhoods, the study looked at both international conversations about preventing crime and making neighbourhoods safe, as well as local discourses about crime and making a living. Youth employment, equitable access to common resources, education, skills development, environmental protection, and equal opportunities within communities, demonstrated the ability to make criminal activities less attractive, thus, prompting the emergence of safer neighbourhoods. The study argues that when individuals are offered decent livelihoods and feel well integrated in their communities, they are less likely to engage in criminal activities. The findings of the study contribute to the broader literature on crime prevention and safer neighbourhood by introducing an economic and social sustainable dimension. The findings, thus, inform the development and implementation of youth empowerment initiatives in border communities and other contexts in Ghana and Africa for effective crime prevention and community safety.