Kriminalprävention in Wien: Eine Fallstudie zur Kriminalpolitik in der Wiener Polizei

Abstract: Politics of crime prevention refers to the steering of social processes in order to control and reduce the amount of crime. In many western democracies the academic discourse has exceeded beyond the conventional argumentation of "general prevention" by deterrence and threat of sanctions, and now focuses on situational approaches to "design out" crime and on communal and participatory crime prevention practices, which finally lead to a cooperation of various political and social organisations in so-called "crime prevention partnerships". This shift from a policy of punishment of offenders to the control of crime in societies with an increasing demand for security is also apparent in Austria. But has this shift entailed a change incrime prevention practices in the police? Has the Police in Vienna as the traditional guarantor for public safety adapted its control-policy adequately to the public demand? This research project particularly focuses on police-work beyond the core strategies of rapid response to emergency calls and reactive investigation of crime, and looks at pro-active service delivery for public safety. The quality of practical crime prevention work of the Vienna police will be evaluated with regard to the prevalent international discussion of crime prevention strategies.;