Background of Area | Project Overview | Community Meeting | The Way Forward | ALL MULTIMEDIA

During our neighbourhood meeting the community members came up with some important ways that they think will address the crime issue in their area. The work that we presented served as a catalyst in starting the discussion.

Our media products raised awareness rather than subscribing what we felt the solutions for that particular community were. Since our focus was crime related to drinking at the taverns, a young woman suggested that a curfew should be implemented where taverns close at 10pm rather than at 2-3am in the morning since most of the crime happens at this time.

The young people present felt that this was not viable and there was a general consensus that people would still continue drinking elsewhere despite a curfew. Another woman felt that the youth should come together to form a ‘neighbourhood watch’ committee, where young people in particular would guard over the area.

The only young male present at the meeting suggested a more radical approach. He thought that the community should adopt a vigilante form of justice and beat up anyone considered to be breaking the law. He felt that the police were not doing enough and the community should take the law into their own hands.

Another woman felt that diverting the youth’s attention to more productive activities such as a showcase of talents would be a viable solution.  She suggested that if the community had a public facility such as a town hall, they could use it to host these events. This provides an alternative to crime.

The community was very eager to continue holding neighbourhood meetings to facilitate more discussions. They felt that it was necessary to take the conversation further even after we had left. We felt that what was gained from the neighbourhood meeting was an awareness of the potential the community has to solve their own problems. They should thus take our initiative as a platform to hold similar discussions in the future.