I certainly don’t believe that crime control is entirely the responsibility of the police force. I am convinced that prevention is the key to success and that all of us must work together to prevent crime. Not giving criminals the opportunity is the first step. Make your homes burglar-proof by always locking up, installing an alarm system and putting identification numbers on your valuable items. The more unattractive you make your home to burglars, the less likely it is that a crime will take place. I also believe that young people are the key to crime prevetion. Television and films make crime look exciting and romantic. Of course we can’t control everything our children watch. The only way to fight these influences is through education. We must teach young people what the realities of a life of crime are, and who it can ruin ones life. A lot of young people in our area are becoming involved in crime. They blame television and the influence of parents. If you look at the statistics, you will find that most of these young criminals are school-leavers who cannot find jobs. To cope with this problem our government officials should spend more money on developing job-training and job-placement programmes. I believe that crime rate would decrease dramatically. Cars have been broken into right in front of houses where people were supposed to be on duty. This obviously shouldn’t be happening. What we need is proper training sp that we can police our own neighbourhood. People keep saying that crime is our responsibility – that if we protect our houses and teach our children properly we can solve the problem. But what about criminals who are already out there? At firs we should keep them locked up longer and given longer prison sentences. I don’t support the return of capital punishment, but I do believe that criminals should be punished severely and not just set free to continue committing crimes. Of course I realise that prisons are already overcrowded and expensive to run, but surely it’s a false economy to release prisoners who are obviously not ready or willing to obey the law because more crime will be expensive for the taxpayer too.