Since its inception, the ICPC has sought to raise awareness and make more accessible the knowledge surrounding crime prevention and community safety. In several of its key publications, the center has described and analyzed the national crime prevention policies of its member governments. Examples such as the first (1997) and second (1999) editions of the Repertory-Summary on Crime Prevention or both inventories of the 100 crime prevention programs to encourage action around the world (1997, 1999) come to mind.

More recently, the ICPC has expanded its collection of national crime prevention policies by including descriptions of related community safety policies and strategies in a large number of countries. Recent trends indicate a growing reliance on a cross-sectoral and collaborative approach to enhance community safety at the national level.

The ICPC promotes practices from Europe, Latin and North America, Africa, and other parts of the world. Based on solid foundations, they have been developed through partnership-based analyses of possible problems and solutions, as well as knowledge of effective practices, implementation challenges, and ways to address them.

The ICPC has produced two inventories of best practices entitled 100 Crime Prevention Programs to Encourage Action Around the World (1997, 1999) and another collection in 2005 called Preventing Delinquency in Urban and Youth Settings - International Compendium of Inspiring Practices. Not only are they still popular to this day, but there seems to be a natural interest in reading short accounts of current projects, thus allowing readers to understand how people like them are able to act on social issues. At the same time, the ICPC is aware that the field of crime prevention is constantly evolving, that solutions are not just recipes from a book which can be applied carelessly, and that people rely on practices for a variety of reasons (strategic interventions, crime reduction, resource mobilization, etc).

For the moment, several descriptions of projects and activities are only available in English because of limited resources for translation. The ICPC hopes to make them available soon.