Abstract:The aims, administrative stuctures, funding, evaluation requirements and immediate origins of Safer Cities are described. A detailed explanation of each of the major elements of the programme is then attempted, focussing in particular on the complex interrelationships between politics, Home Office sponsored criminology and policy formulation. There follows an analysis of the context and logic of the programme as it has emerged and may develop in the future. A series of summary statements describing the antecedents of concerns with crime prevention as a policy issue and of safer Cities as a particular expression of this reveal the essentially contingent character of the initiative.