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This study aims to examine feelings of safety and the correlates to feelings of decreased worry toward crime within individuals' proximate environments. Data from adults living in Southeast Queensland (N = 72) were collected using a mobile application. Findings of a thematic analysis of these data suggest that safety perceptions are primarily driven by (a) physical features of the proximate environment, (b) social characteristics of a place, and (c) location familiarity or awareness. This study concludes with a discussion of how these themes may be leveraged to develop more focused fear-reduction strategies that involve modifying features of the physical environment, improving social characteristics of place and increasing knowledge/awareness of place. Extant literature explores why people fear crime and what leads individuals to potential interactions with crime and disorder within their neighborhoods (Farrall et al. 1997; Hale 1996; Jackson 2005). However, there is a dearth of research focusing on specific reasons for feeling safe in one's immediate environment. Researchers' reliance on measuring feelings of "fear" of crime often ignores important physical and social structures that may shape the opposite attitudinal pattern-feelings of safety. This is important because contemporary research examining fear of crime indicates that many individuals are not concerned or worried about crime victimization, and that fear of crime may concentrate within particular areas and at certain times of day (Chataway and Hart 2016). By studying feelings of safety in the proximate environment, researchers may be able to develop more effective interventions for reducing fear of crime in areas/places where it's highly concentrated. To address this shortcoming in our empirical knowledge on safety perceptions in the immediate environment, the current study uses mobile technology to collect data about attitudes toward safety from a sample of adults living in Southeast Queensland, Australia, while they are engaging in their everyday, routine activities. 1 Inductive thematic analysis is used to identify common themes relating to feelings of safety and security in the immediate environments of adults to obtain a better understanding of the perceptual drivers of safety.

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The current study examines the association between fear of crime and awareness of community programs designed to prevent or reduce crime and social disorder. Data were collected from a community survey of household residents living on the Gold Coast of Australia (N ¼ 713). Results indicate that those reportedly aware of community initiatives, fear property crime and crimes against persons differently than those reportedly unaware of them. For fear of personal victimisation, awareness of crime prevention programs within an area weakened relationships between (a) perceptions of incivility and social cohesion; (b) perceptions of the consequences of victimisation and likelihood of victimisation; and (c) perceptions of the likelihood of victimisation and worry about personal crime. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications on future research, and strategies for developing crime prevention and fear reduction programs that maximise the positive effects on attitudes towards crime, while minimising their unintended consequences, are also offered.