Community Safety Indicators: Are We Measuring What Counts?

Abstract

Recent reviews of crime prevention practice conclude that the local level of governance is most effective at coordinating various key actors and implementing workable policy. However, the question of how to evaluate effectiveness of these efforts is notoriously difficult to answer. Domestic violence, in particular, is largely under-reported to police, generational in nature, highly politicised, and contingent on external social and economic variables. This article will use the State of Victoria, Australia, as a case study to examine how attempts to develop demonstrated progress measures on safer streets, homes and workplaces have foundered because of lack of gender analysis, political interf..