'Remember the Alamo': action research and crime prevention in a high crime neighbourhood

In this paper we identify some of the experiences of public professionals in a high-crime neighborhood in London, the Borough of Walford (a pseudonym), as their service agencies are attempting to move from a highly centralized service delivery model, in which professional roles are tightly demarcated and organizational outputs tend to be concrete and short-term, to a model in which they are required to contribute to the development of "corporate," local, multiagency strategies to reduce violent interracial youth crime, strategies that aim to achieve more complex medium and long-term outcomes.