Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

This chapter is concerned with the extent to which the individual design features of the built environment (such as a house, school, shopping mall or hospital), as well as the natural environment surrounding those buildings, impact upon crime risk, and subsequently, how these features can be altered to reduce that level of risk. This approach is known as Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED). CPTED draws upon opportunity theories that assert that those involved in, or considering, criminality are influenced (to some extent) by their immediate environmen

Design, crime and the built environment

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a method of reducing crime through the design and manipulation of the built environment. Based upon the Opportunity Theories of crime, CPTED focuses upon blocking opportunities for criminal behaviour through subtle techniques to maximise informal surveillance, guardianship and maintenance, to minimise through movement and to set standards of physical security that are proportionate to crime risk. This chapter will discuss the principles of CPTED and the theories from which it evolved. It will explore the effectiveness of these principles, both individually and combined, in reducing crime, before exploring how CPTED is applied in practice

La prevención del delito mediante el diseño ambiental (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design)

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a method of reducing crime through the design and manipulation of the built environment. Based upon the New Opportunity Theories of crime, CPTED focuses upon blocking opportunities for criminal behaviour through subtle techniques to maximise informal surveillance, territoriality and guardianship, to minimise through movement and to set standards of physical security that are proportionate to crime risk. This chapter will discuss the principles of CPTED and the theories from which it evolved, before exploring how CPTED is applied internationally in terms of policy, guidance and practice. Examples include Chile, Mexico, and Brazil, as well as countries with more established processes of implementing CPTED within the planning process (England and Wales, Netherlands and Australia). Evidence regarding effectiveness will be presented and consideration will be given to the extent to which principles, practice and procedure can be transferred to different countries and cultures

If the Shoe Fits: Proposing a Randomised Control Trial on the effect of a digitised in-custody footwear technology compared to a paper-based footwear method.

In order to address the issue of footwear capture from individuals arrested for recordable crime, technology has been developed, which is known as Tread Finder. This technology and development was made possible through Home Office Police Innovation Funding. Tread Finder is now a finished product and the technology has been deployed into a North London custody suite. Tread Finder incorporates the use of a 300 dpi scanner and newly developed software enabling capture, assisted coding and automated geographical crime scene searching. This paper sets out the proposal of a Randomised Control Trial to replicate and upscale a previous lab based experiment into a field environment to assess the cost, efficiency and crime solving benefits realised as a result of deploying Tread Finder technology compared with the previous paper based alternative

Secured by Design : an investigation of its history, development and future role in crime reduction

Secured by Design (SBD) is an award scheme, managed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and supported by the Home Office, which aims to encourage house developers to design homes so as to minimise the crime opportunities which they present. Unlike many crime reduction measures, particularly those addressing the behaviour of offenders or potential offenders, the SBD initiative is proactive - the aim being to intervene prior to a crime problem emerging as opposed to reacting after the event. The implementation of SBD requirest he co-operation of a variety of agenciesf rom police and local authorities to architects and housing developers,and the mechanisms through which it aims to reduce crime have the potential to impact upon the victim, the offender and the location. Recent legislation,in the form of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998, have placedcrime reduction on the agenda of many agencies for whom the issue had historically been of little importance. In the current climate of multi-agency working, initiatives such as SBD have the potential to flourish, but do they actually impact upon crime, disorder and the fear of crime, and are they being used to their maximum potential? This thesis addresses the past (history), present (current practice) and future (potential refinements) of SBD. How did planning become encapsulated in to criminology?Does SBD reduce crime, disorder and the fear of crime?What are the current weaknesses within SBD and how can the initiative be improved? The findings presented within the thesis reveal that properties built to the SBD standard experience lower levels of crime (and their resident's lower levels of fear of crime) than Non-SBD estates matched according to age, housing tenure, location and environmental factors. Whilst the difference in crime rates is not strongly statistically significant, the improving performance of the scheme suggests that a more recent sample would reveal a stronger relationship between SBD status and crime levels. Having established that SBD estates confer a crime reduction advantage the thesis focuses upon identifying how the scheme can be improved as well as the enablers and constraints which exist for those within the social and private sector in deciding whether (or not) to build to the SBD standard. Areas of improvement include ensuring that the scheme implements its own principles, incorporating repeat victimisation packages in to its standards and considering the threat to revoke the scheme for estates found failing to maintain the SBD standards. Levers to encourage social and private sector developers to build to the SBD standard include enhanced funding from the Housing Corporation, the appeal of additional security for homebuyers and the savings incurred through reduced levels of crime and disorder. Continuing its improvement orientation, the thesis presents a risk assessment mechanism to be used by crime reduction practitioners as a means of idenffying which properties will become vulnerable to crime if built (therefore allowing them to challenge planning applications)or in the case of properties already developed, allowing resources to be directed towards properties at most risk. The environmental factors which emerge as associated with elevated crime levels (and therefore score highly on the checklist presented)suggest that higher levels of movement past a property are generally associated with higher levels of risk. Thus in the somewhat heated debate about the role of permeability in enabling crime, the general thrust of the data suggests that high permeability (as proxied by the presence footpaths, levels of pedestrian and vehicular movement and road network) is indeed associated with higher levels of crime.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Holding the line: The sustainability of police involvement in crime prevention

The opening lines of the handbook issued by Sir Robert Peel to all officers of the Metropolitan Police in 1829, were these: ‘It should be understood at the outset that the object to be attained is the prevention of crime. To this great end every effort of the police is to be directed. The security of person and property, the preservation of the public tranquility, and all the other objects of a police establishment will thus be better effected than by the detection and punishment of the offender after he has succeeded in committing the crime.’ Quoted in Reith (1948:62). Mayne, one of the first two Commissioners, added this principle: ‘To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment.’ Quoted in Boyd (2012). What exactly they meant by prevention is open to interpretation, and whether this was just a ruse to help convince a suspicious public that in England ‘continental’ methods of repression would not be adopted is not clear. But by the late 19th Century the reactive approach of catching criminals or ‘feeling collars’ had come to predominate; and in the 20th, the politically-significant rhetoric of ‘fighting crime’ achieved consensual hegemony, delivered huge resources to policing over the years and of course powerfully shaped the policing organisation. It was not until the 1960s that the first signs of resurgence of an explicit, practical, preventive role were seen

What Works in Reducing Burglary: A Review of Secured by Design

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a crime reduction measure that aims to design out crime at the planning, or pre-planning stage. It is based upon the five key elements of creating defensible space, limiting through movement, maximising natural surveillance, managing and maintaining an area and ensuring that standards of physical security are commensurate with risk. Secured by Design (SBD) is an award scheme, delivered by police forces, that incorporates the principles of CPTED. This presentation will explore what works (and what doesn’t) in delivering CPTED and SBD. It will also explore the effectiveness of CPTED and SBD in terms of their impact on police recorded crime, self-reported crime and offender decision-making