Background The local communities have an important role when it comes to safety for their citizens. A community normally has more opportunities than we are aware of. It is very important for everybody working for safety as we do in the International Safe Communities movement to know and understand all the possibilities to increase the safety in the communities. We cannot look upon a community as a black-box. Of course there are differences between the countries with different political systems but there also often are astonishing similarities. The role in the public sector In the public sector the role for the communities is to meet the citizens and their organisations. Political decentralization to the local level is considered as an essential component of democratization and good governance all over the world and is also emphasised by organisations like UN-Habitat. The relation to the citizens The relation to the citizens and their organisations is central for the communities. Investigations also show that the citizens want measurements for safety from their communities. Responsibilities Areas where the communities often are responsible are physical planning, social welfare, planning and maintaining of local roads, local traffic regulation, fire-brigade, police, education, health service, public transportation, business development and sport. Common tools for governing 1. Economic measurements Economic governing often is considered as the most important measurement and a community normally a has lot of economic power.

Objectives It is necessary for the political leadership to have an impact on the whole administration and the service the community produce in many different areas. Governing by objectives has been widely used. Local regulations In many countries the communities have possibilities to promulgate local regulations about traffic, pets, fire-works etc.