Improving community safety in Bangladesh requires combining community-based and environment-oriented crime prevention strategies with traditional policing, experts said at an international seminar in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Speakers stressed that crime prevention should begin with improving surveillance and territoriality, and by designing public spaces in ways that reduce criminal opportunities.
They highlighted the need for regular monitoring, community participation and the use of digital tools to build safer neighbourhoods and sustain long-term prevention efforts.
The seminar titled “Building Resilient Communities and Improving Living Environment in Bangladesh” was held at PKSF Bhaban-1 in the capital’s Agargaon.
PKSF Managing Director Md Fazlul Kader delivered the welcome speech, while Professor Dr Md Taufiqul Islam, a member of the PKSF Governing Body, gave the vote of thanks.
Keynote presentations were made by Dr Tomoo Okubo and Dr Shiho Tanaka of Kagawa University, and Dr Naonori Kusakabe of Rikkyo University, focusing on ICT-based crime prevention education and community support models in Bangladesh.
Other speakers included Dr BM Sajjad Hossain, Associate Professor at AIUB; Ruhi Das, Executive Director of BASTOB; Mifta Naim Huda, Executive Director of CDIP; Md Sohrab Ali Khan, Deputy Executive Director-03, TMSS; and Tarik Sayed Harun, Director (MF) at RDRS-Bangladesh.
Presenters outlined a comprehensive framework based on crime opportunity theory, which suggests that environmental conditions often influence criminal behaviour more than individual intent.
They said communities can reduce opportunistic crimes by ensuring that public spaces are visible, frequently used and free from concealed or poorly monitored areas.
The seminar also emphasised community strength, shared responsibility and social interaction as essential elements of public safety.
Participants noted the importance of youth engagement, university-level patrol teams, hotspot monitoring, safer school routes and awareness-building through digital tools and field workshops — particularly at a time when volunteer participation is declining.
Experts also discussed the distinction between crime cause theory, which focuses on offenders, and crime opportunity theory, which examines environmental vulnerabilities that enable crime.
They pointed out that parks, walkways, unattended spaces and poorly maintained neighbourhoods often turn into hotspots when they are “easy to enter and difficult to see.”
A major highlight of the event was the use of ICT in crime prevention.
The seminar featured the “Miimai” crime prevention walking app, which enables residents to mark safe and unsafe areas, file real-time reports and identify high-risk routes.
The app encourages “watching while walking” and acts as a digital extension of traditional community safety maps.