We live with crime every day. Unfortunately, it has
become a fact of life. Discussions on the subject have traditionally
focused 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.
There are other options.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or
CPTED, is a different approach to preventing crime. Much more
far-reaching than dead-bolt locks on doors, or locks on windows, CPTED
principles are applied easily and inexpensively during the design phase
of development and have been implemented in communities across the
nation. Design professionals have always integrated into their work
resistance to natural threats such as fire, earthquakes, floods and
harsh weather. In recent years, design professionals have begun to
recognize crime as a manmade hazard that can be resisted through quality
design.
These concepts are defined briefly as follows:
1. Surveillance. Involves the location and use of
physical features, electrical and mechanical devices, activities, and
people to maximize visibility. It creates a risk of detection for
intruders and a perception of safety for legitimate users.
2. Access control. Employs people, electrical and
mechanical devices, and natural measures to create a perception of risk
to intruders and deny them access to targets. It also guides legitimate
users safely through the environment.
3. Territoriality. Uses physical features and
activities to express ownership and control of the environment and
promotes pride in the environment. It also discourages presence of
outsiders by controlling the movement of people and vehicles, having
someone be responsible for maintaining all areas in the environment for
their intended uses, and delineating public, semi-public/private, and
private spaces, and controlling the movement of people and vehicles.
4. Maintenance. Allows the continued use of areas
for their intended uses and maintains the effectiveness of measures
employed for surveillance, access control, and territoriality.
