How can local leadership reduce crime? That's the question being asked, not by local leaders, but by a group of MPs in Westminster.
The Commons' all-party parliamentary group on local government has launched a national inquiry into how local thinking about communities and crime might help cut rising crime rates in England and Wales.
There's little doubt of the urgent need for fresh thinking about crime and the criminal justice system. With the prison population, which was 61,470 in 1997, set to increase to almost 100,000 by 2014, and with each prisoner costing the taxpayer an average of £37,5000 a year, community-based ways to reduce crime and cut the cost of the system would be more than welcome.
But can an inquiry by MPs be the answer? The group, which will be chaired by Clive Betts, Labour MP for Sheffield Attercliffe, is working with the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) to look at "how thinking locally" could cut crime.
It wants to focus on what communities can do themselves to take responsibility and "stop crimes before they start". The inquiry recognises that change will only come through local partnerships, in areas such as housing, benefits, drugs and alcohol services, mental health services, and employment services.
But it also acknowledges, as previous attempts to tackle crime have also had to do, that what's needed most is strong partnership between these separate services - and that is a tough nut to crack.
Andy Sawford, the chief executive of the LGIU said councils need to be supported to take a much stronger role in breaking the cycle of reoffending - at the moment, half of all crime is committed by former prisoners.
He said new approaches are needed. "With more co-ordination of local agencies and key services, councils could make the kind of early interventions, and improve reintegration of people leaving prison, that will significantly reduce crime and bring real benefits to communities, save taxpayers money, and ease the crisis in our prisons," he commented.
