Prevention of Crime through Environmental Designs - Assignment Example

 Prevention of Crime through Environmental Designs Crime prevention through environmental designs entails applying various disciplinary approaches in deterring criminal activities. Positive results are achievable through proper environmental designs.The objective of this system includes influencing the decisions of criminals prior violation practices. It addresses several forms of crime such as robbery, vandalism, drug dealing, burglary, as well as auto theft (Stummvoll, 2012). The success of CPTED relies on proper coordination between government officials, the police, the community as well as architects and other relevant professionals (Stummvoll, 2012)). It is quite a task organizing the different professions and the re-designing process is costly if it involves already existing structures. CPTED's emphasises on design and land use and it is different from traditional approaches towards crime. Traditional approaches emphasized on using physical or artificial barriers to deny criminals access to their targets (Stummvoll, 2012). CPTED therefore aims at improving from this method, which overlooked the opportunities that existed in natural access control and surveillance. CPTED incorporates these overlooked strategies besides territorial enforcement.This system bases on a theory, which states that adequate designs and effective use of the built environment could lead to a reduction in the incidence as well as fear of crime (Tipton &Krause, 2010). This policy has been applicable in several situations and one successful instance was in Sarasota, Florida. The planners implemented CPTED strategies to curb crime in the North trail area of Sarasota. In 1990, the City of Sarasota, decided to revitalize its North Trail area. The number of prostitutes was increasing; old buildings were present as well as restrictive zoning codes (Atlas, 2010). This factors increased crime hence discouraging economic investments and lowering the living standards of the community. Sarasota therefore sought to organize a CPTED Task Force that was to work under the authority of the city manager. The purpose of the task force was to amend some of the city laws that involved zonal restrictions (Atlas, 2010). Eventually, the planners adopted a resolution in support of CPTED in issues affecting designing and redevelopment projects. They referred to the study area as the North Trail Corridor. By analyzing the short-term events and results, the method proved effective. The city police departments used high-visibility patrols and acted in undercover (Atlas, 2010). They collaborated with motel owners to identify and arrest pimps, prostitutes, and drug dealers (Atlas, 2010). These efforts built the community’s confidence in the city’s ability to revitalize the area. In addition, citizen’s tolerant nature to criminal practices reduced as the expectations for improvement increased (Atlas, 2010). The long-term process of revitalizing the city involved conducting research in the North trail area. The findings and data from the research aimed at analyzing crime, zoning categories, building permits, as well as land use (Atlas, 2010). In addition, the planners encouraged public involvement and developed the North Trail Zoning Ordinance (Tipton &Krause, 2010). To ensure effective incorporation of CPTED, they decided to form an administrative CPTED task team to implement the ordinance. The ordinance formed addressed responses from applicants and professionals that related to lighting and land use designs (Tipton & Krause, 2010). The objectives of the task team were to review all development projects in city, either public or developmental. The team was to provide information to professional groups, public agencies as well as the general community. To gain more information from the public, the planners held workshops frequently. The planners also carried out surveys on local businesses to get information from investors (Tipton & Krause, 2010). From this, they realized that there were concerns on crime; poor land uses, property maintenance as well as pressure on zoning codes (Tipton and Krause, 2010). The input from crime data revealed that prostitution and drug dealing were the most common forms of crime and that prostitution was rampant due to the presence of an array of motels in the trail area. Input from land use maintenance further revealed that there were factors that prevented the local businesses and motels to renovate. Such factors included zoning barriers, restrictive street, parking as well drainage requirements (Hopper, 2007). The notion that renovation will be costly also prevented them from renovation. These requirements indicated that lighting be installed in building entrances besides pathways and parking lots (Hopper, 2007). The rules also demanded that landscaping with canopy trees was necessary for the sake of visibility, declaring ownership, and enhancement of the pathways used by pedestrians. The new move to ensure that the city's revitalization was successful demanded that architects design new buildings and redesign old ones with porches, balconies, as well as large parking spaces that the community could share in residential areas and business locations as well (Hopper, 2007). CPTED requirements showed that the environment was calmer and comfortable with rightful behavior hence discouraged the illegal behavior of using and selling drugs (Hopper, 2007). In addition, the government officials allowed for a wider variety of land practices. After some time, revitalization was evident from motels that had changed to antique shops, furniture stores besides other educational and commercial practices (Hopper, 2007). Towards 1998, reports on crime reduced greatly in theNorth trail area and the whole city too. From the findings, reports on prostitution also decreased in the corridor as well cases on theft. From the research, the slopes of change were different in other forms of crime such as prostitution but in others, it was the same (Tipton & Krause, 2010). It was evident that the city and most importantly the North trail area was becoming safer. They attributed these to community interventions in conjunction with CPTED requirements and improved law enforcement practices. The socio-economic life of the people improved as the planners engaged every social and political class in reviewing issues as well as letting them air out their views (Tipton & Krause). The business owners also resulted to merchants associations that improved the economy and brought developments. The method used was surely effective and it worked for the benefit of the community and government. The success was evident in not only the North Trail area but the whole city as well. Combining efforts was one factor that contributed to the success of the plan used. The community, planners, police officers, as well as government officials combined efforts to identify the problems they were facing and were able to find solutions to ensuring long-term reductions in criminal offences (Hopper, 2007). Crime prevention through environmental designs provided a foundation that enabled the architects and developers to create and develop a safe and attractive environment (Stummvoll, 2012). Their efforts surely had a long-term positive effect on the community since their social and economic lives improved. It is therefore evident that crime prevention using CPTED requires a comprehensive approach (Knapp, 2013). Focused police initiatives is the first critical factor needed and adding citizen involvement leads to a long term success in creation of a safer environment. There were also some demerits in how the evaluators conducted the research as well as how they arrived at the results. The evaluators did not conduct formal surveys to evaluate the success of the method used. The planners could have achieved this by carrying out field research through door-to-door methods or using questionnaires (Tipton & Krause, 2010). Instead, the evaluators used informal responses from the population. Their findings and conclusions based on reports and calls made to the police. This, in various ways led to insufficient and wrong findings. It was a disadvantage because they could not account for the specific code of interventions that worked effectively. They could not account for the efficiency of individual methods used and it was not clear whether it was the police patrols or the changes in design of the environment that most effectively led to decreased crime rates. Moreover, various events could have influenced the results of the study but the evaluators did not measure them. These factors were such as the combination of efforts and changes, private property enhancement as well as the social tolerance level and the expectations of the community from the city manager. This experience in Sarasota, Florida clearly represents the importance of CPTED. From the unfolding of events, the importance of developing and redeveloping is evident from the improvement of community health and security. The effectiveness of the approach of designing, implementing, and evaluating modes of intervention is evident from Sarasota’s experience. The move of considering social, economic, and physical conditions was collectively termed as ‘community CPTED’ (Knapp, 2013). Because of the success of the plan, the city developers achieved various awards from the then International Police Chiefs Association, the Florida Crime Prevention Association as well as the Florida Planning and Zoning Association. As much as proper designing is effective as a mode of crime prevention, follow up through constant maintenance and proper management practices are necessary to keep the design elements up to date hence more effective (Knapp, 2013). References Hopper, L. J. (2007). Landscape architectural graphic standards. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Atlas, R. (2010). 21st Century Security and CPTED: Designing for Critical Infrastructure. Tipton, H., Krause, M. (2010).Information Security Management Handbook.Sixth Edition. Knapp, J. (2013). Safety and urban design – the role of CPTED in the design process.Safer Communities, 12(4), 176-184. Stummvoll, G. (2012). Governance through norms and standards: The normative force behind design-led crime prevention.Criminology & Criminal Justice: An International Journal, 12(4), 377-396. Read More