Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is based on the notion that the physical environment can be manipulated to produce behaviour effects that will reduce the opportunity, incidence and fear of crime especially that of an opportunistic nature.
In crime prevention the rational choice theory (RCT) suggests that would be perpetrators of crime reflect on a number of basic questions before committing their act. The response to the questions alters their behaviour. The basic questions being:-
- Will I be seen?
- If I am seen, will I be noticed?
- If I am seen and noticed, will anyone react?
An understanding of how best principles of CPTED can influence human behaviour allows a business to engage designers at the earliest possible stage of a project so that opportunities for crime can be built – in. Similarly there can be positive headways in minimizing crime when CPTED elements are built onto an already designed and existing premise. Of course the initial being the recommended good practice and highly encouraged.
The core elements of CPTED are:-
- Natural surveillance – Increasing visibility in the exterior and interior ensures would be perpetrators of crime realise that they are exposed to detection.
- Natural access control – This entails the use of structures, physical barriers, landscaping and lighting to direct access to specific controllable access points.
- Natural territorial reinforcement – This involves creating a sense of ownership over the property by its occupants. The sense of owned space creates an environment where intruders and trespassers stand out and are more easily identified. By using buildings, fences, pavements, security signs, lighting, landscape and much more to express ownership and define public space to enhance natural territorial reinforcement.
- Management and maintenance – This involves maintaining the physical environment as it gives the impression of care. Lack of upkeep encourages crimes that include arson, vandalism and much more towards property.
- Compartmentalisation – By compartmentalisation of a facility and providing layered access control the task of an adversary can be made more difficult and time consuming, giving detection and response forces a better chance of adversary neutralisation.
While CPTED can never fully replace security measures, its strategies are often worth considering as a lower cost alternative or as a foundation on which security measures can then be built on.