Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Presented by The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office

CPTED • Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design: The proper design and effective use of the built environment that can lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime, and an improvement in the quality of life.

CPTED • An old concept which has been experiencing a rebirth of interest in recent years. It acknowledges what many law enforcement have already known—that the manner in which physical space is designed or used has a direct bearing on crime.

CPTED • Concepts in their basic form are oriented primarily around approaches we can take to make our environment more secure • There is a direct link between good management, profit and crime prevention. They contribute to one another.

CPTED • Many law suits are being decided not upon whether or not a security or alarm was present, but rather upon the design of the building and management decisions. • With CPTED measures, questions are raised about the foresee ability of problems, the financial reasonableness and adequacy of design.

CPTED • The court’s understanding of security is expanding beyond organized or mechanical methods to include natural approaches that are inherent to managing human and physical resources. • Parks, public buildings, schools, shopping centers, small businesses, industrial plants and hospitals are fair game when it comes to lawsuits.

CPTED • Oscar Newman developed three concepts for the integration of the physical design of buildings and the occurrence of crime. • Territoriality • Natural Surveillance • Defensible Space

TERRITORIALTY • Territoriality: People being protective of their space and property within that space. • The house and property that a family lives in or on, large or small, is identified by our culture as that family’s “territory”. • Shrubs and fences provide a symbolic buffer between one person’s territory and that of another (natural access control). • As our population has grown, the idea of territory has been replaced by the development of row houses, apartment buildings and various high rise structures.

TERRITORIALTY • Architects, designers and planners have given little attention to crime control or the need for an individual or family group to identify its home site territory and the effect that the concept of “territory” has upon crime.

Site Design • Site Design: If the grounds around the building can be directly identified with a particular building and if the residents of that building take a personal interest in the use and upkeep of that area, they will play a part in protecting it.

Compositional Versus Organic Design • Compositional Design: Based upon each building or unit in a complex standing alone as a complete, separate and formal entity apart from the land or grounds upon which it is built. • Organic Design: The building helps to define the use of grounds by way of access paths, play equipment and seating areas. This has proven to the most effective in involving citizens in crime prevention.

STREET DESIGN • By the placement, enclosure or re-routing of streets and traffic, the nature of a particular area can be changed and the crime rate reduced.

Real and Symbolic Barriers • Real Barrier: Something that physically stops someone from reaching an objective such as a wall or fence. • Symbolic Barrier: Something that provides a psychological deterrent to reaching an objective such as lighting, or changing the texture of a sidewalk between public and private property.

Real and Symbolic Barriers • Both real and symbolic barriers serve to inform an individual that he or she is passing from a public to a private space. • Real barriers are a more secure method of handling intruders.

Natural Surveillance • Newman believed that having the ability to see or observe outside activity, in some cases, spurs people to report crime. • By providing opportunities for surveillance through the positioning of windows in relationship to stairs, corridors, and the outside, continual and natural observation will be maintained and crime will be deterred.

Natural Surveillance • Includes lighting and positioning of the areas and access paths surrounding and leading to buildings. • This facilitates surveillance by citizens and law enforcement. • Another method of surveillance is to design facilities so that people within them will naturally be able to view commonly used paths during normal household activities.

NATURAL SURVEILLANCE • This aids in the ability of people to watch the comings and goings of all visitors to a building. • For example, kitchens when properly designed add to natural surveillance characteristics of homes. • This is because the kitchen tends to be an area where significant amounts of time are spent and residents are usually standing up so they can see through windows.

Defensible Space • Defensible Space: Defined as a living residential environment that can be used by inhabitants for the enhancement of the quality of their lives. • Provides security for family, friends and neighbors.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design