Crime rates in big cities have steadily increased over the years creating much concern and worry over the safety of certain areas. There are however, some cities that have done certain methods to lower the crime rate or to keep it much lower than other metropolitan areas in the world. Some of the cities that are known to have implemented techniques like using surveillance video cameras or a video surveillance system is London whereas other methods have been successfully put in place in areas such as New York City and Stockholm, Sweden to make them safer for the people that live and visit there. This article will discuss some of those changes that these areas have done to make the crime rates go down or stay low in the first place.

London, England has not had a wonderful reputation for being a particularly safe place as far as large European cities go in past years. After all, the old Jack the Ripper tales hailed from London. Today is a much different place, however, with London being one of the safest European cities around and the rate of catching criminals in their acts is very high. Installing more video cameras within the busy areas of London helped decrease criminal behavior more than any other city in the world. On just one block you may have 4 to 5 various viewpoints from cameras surveying the location to catch an illegal act or some type of violent behavior.

Another city that has attempted to change their act as far as crime is concerned is New York City. Since he became mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani was not satisfied with the way Times Square was turning into a crime ridden place of prostitution and drugs. This area was slowly transformed into a family friendly tourist location making it a much safer place for people to go by bringing in family friendly stores like Disney and American Girl and by raising the number of the police forces on foot and on horse by triple the amount. The combination of more police officers and bringing in new types of business totally transformed the Times Square area to be a fun safe destination for tourists to visit today.

Another city that has stayed on top of their crime rates and have one of the safest places in the world is Stockholm, Sweden. Part of this is from the stringent laws that they have in place and the low overall crime rates from the whole country. People tend to be happier and less stressed in Scandinavian countries and the lower crime rates shows that. Everyone particpates in taking care of their neighborhoods there to keep them clean and to look out for each other and this sense of strong community has been one of the best crime deterrents around.

If other cities could follow some of these examples, the world would be a safer area. Not a horrible thing to wish for.