News

September 19–20, 2017

premises of the Municipal Police Brno – Riviera

Crime, prevention and society

If one asked what was the point in holding a National Prevention Day with a conference titled "Crime, Prevention of Crime and Society" one would quickly find a response several hundred years old: "It is better to prevent crime than to punish it" (Cesare Beccaria). We often hear the thesis that crime is always a step ahead of justice, with no proof to back such a claim. And it might not be so if there was a system of timely intervention, early prevention, in place and not a reactionary fire-fighting system dependent on a crime already having happened. This system is called a crime prevention system, systematically built into our country and fought for since 1995. It is often not seen or heard of, has no media popularity, and if someone invented a perfect evaluation of its projects, they might well have already received a Nobel Prize. Beneath this silence a diverse range of individuals and entities in different uniforms and outfits are hard at work: there is a network of collaborating organizations, experts, university professors, members of professional societies, institutes, practitioners, representatives of the non-profit sector, international security organizations as well as others. We, together with the Institute for Criminology and Social Prevention, were looking for a platform where participants could exchange - in the same space and at the same time - shared and differing experiences in the field. We found inspiration with our German neighbours where the Deutscher Präventionstag (The German Congress on Crime Prevention – GCOCP) has been running for more than 20 years. Brno is known as a pioneer and promoter of new ideas in the field of crime prevention, effecting projects yet unheard of. This is why we decided to organize the first year of the National Prevention Day in a modest and financially undemanding manner as part of one of the on-going projects in the city of Brno - the Municipal Crime Prevention Program 2017. The organizer is the City of Brno and the Coordination Centre for Prevention, the co-organizer is the Municipal Police of Brno - on whose premises along the Brno Riviera the National Prevention Day is taking place. The patronage of the event was taken over by the Governor of the South Moravian Region and the Mayor of the City of Brno. The funds for this event are taken partly from the City of Brno budget and partly from the state budget through the National Committee for Crime Prevention at the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. It would be an honour and pleasure if you come to liking of the idea of holding this event and turning it into a tradition, as has happened, in time, with our German neighbours.