Crime prevention practices: The cases of Australia, Germany, South Africa and England

This chapter compares specific crime prevention methods used within rural areas of four countries: the state of Victoria, Australia; Germany; South Africa; and England. In each of these countries, rurality is constructed as an idyllic space in which crime is perceived as an urban problem. However, rurality is also portrayed as a place where individuals are vulnerable or feel unsafe because of the lack of urban infrastructure and population density, and the population is socially separated from the urban. Following a review of the literature on rural crime prevention, the chapter will outline the methodology adopted for each of the four country cases. It will present the data collected from farmers regarding who they perceive to be responsible for crime prevention (themselves or police), their likelihood to adopt certain crime prevention measures and willingness to embrace new crime prevention technologies. It concludes with as assessment of existing and emerging crime prevention measures for farming properties.