Fighting crime through environmental design
Joanne McDonald
Published on
May 09, 2008
Potential offenders think twice about committing crime with Niagara Regional Police Constable Nicole Abbott on the environmental scene.
The crime prevention officer specializes in the use of design to eliminate or reduce criminal behaviour.
A fairly new concept, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is being used increasingly to create safer, more livable communities.
It takes three components to make a crime -- opportunity, criminal desire and a victim. "If you can take one of those three away, you're not going to have the crime," says Const. Abbott. Removing the opportunity removes one-third of the triangle.
She has become an expert at looking at the strategies that incorporate natural surveillance, territorial reinforcement and natural access control.
Natural surveillance -- unobstructed doors and windows, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and streets, front porches on homes to allow residents to watch out for their neighbours and effective lighting - is one concept directed toward keeping intruders easily observable, and therefore less likely to commit criminal acts.
Territorial reinforcement Const. Abbott explains is defining property lines and distinguishing private space from public space by using landscaping and signage. It develops a sense of territorial control while potential offenders, perceiving this control, are discouraged.
Natural access control is decreasing crime opportunity by denying access and creating a perception of risk for offenders.
"It's using common sense on how we design and use our space to assist in preventing crime," Const. Abbott said.
Maintenance is also key in preventing crime. Const. Abbott alludes to the "broken window theory," where one broken window is a temptation to break more windows.
"If you let something go, everything around it starts to go," and the ensuing perception is that if nobody cares, "then why should I care".
"We want people to have ownership in a community."
Discussions on crime prevention have traditionally focused much more on arrest and punishment than on crime prevention; measures that cannot be taken until after a crime has been committed. Preventing crime offers tremendous savings to everyone. Traditionally, most people think of crime prevention in terms of target hardening or fortification: the use of devices to block unauthorized access or entry. There are other options.
Today says Const. Abbott, planners and architects are paying particular attention to CPTED as they design entire communities. "It's assisting us with crime and empowering the community to prevent their own crime."
CPTED is much more far reaching than deadbolts on doors or locks on windows and the principles are applied easily and inexpensively during building or remodeling projects. Designers have always integrated resistance to natural threats - fire, earthquakes, floods, and harsh weather - into their works. They've now begun to recognize crime as a man-made hazard which can be resisted through quality design.
The proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime, and an improvement of the quality of life.