LectureCPTED

Hello PSC 216. This is our last official lecture of the summer section and again it's going to be short and to the point just like the previous lecture. I want to talk a little bit about crime prevention through environmental design.

Uh, for those of you who have taken private security courses, and I think there's a couple of you in this class who have or are in the process of completing some of those courses, this is a security term. Uh, we've been talking about crime mapping from a police perspective. However, there are private security implications in terms of crime mapping. One of those is crime prevention through environmental design.

This was a term based on a training manual by Timothy D. Crowe from the University of Louisville. It's a framework for reducing crime through environmental strategies. I think we've already proven ad nauseam now that crime is specific to locations. So we know there's that location component. The idea, the goals and objectives is to alter the perception of the environment in order to understand its effect on crime, to empower citizens to question unsafe designs, to promote control over local physical and social environments, and to increase community participation in crime prevention. And as I've been saying to you now through several lectures, the solution is just not, oh, more cops, more cops, more cops. Yes, that's part of it, an effective patrol force, but the community must be empowered in this endeavor.

Crowe basically had a 3D approach to crime prevention: Designation, Definition, Design. Designation, determining the intended purpose of the space. All space should have a purpose. One of the biggest crime attractors in any area? Vacant buildings, vacant lots, nothing but problems. Definition, understanding how the space is socially and legally defined. Social and legal constraints help minimize disruptive behavior, at least for people who respect those social legal constraints. And then Design, assessing whether the physical design supports the intended function and desired behaviors. Together, we get crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). Proper design and effective use of the built environment should reduce crime and fear and improve the quality of life. Uh, maybe something as simple as a community garden. A community garden sometimes is all it takes.

Additionally, three core CPTED strategies: Natural access control, in other words, guiding movement via spatial design, controlling how people move. Natural surveillance, increasing the visibility for these observations. And then territorial reinforcement, creating a sense of ownership and control. Uh, so, you know, you have certain neighborhoods where it's they're tight-knit neighborhoods, their communities in and of themselves, and there's less crime in these areas because there's a greater sense of belonging. There's that sense of ownership, of control.

Crime prevention strategies, of course, law enforcement, uh, security guards and patrols. There's a human element, but there's more to it. There's mechanical aspects, locks and lighting, natural aspects, proper spatial design, proper design of windows that afford you the ability to observe the surrounding area. Natural strategies that prioritize normal use and social behavior versus hard barriers. This 3D assessment again: Designation, what are we using it for? Definition, how is it socially and legally defined? Design of it, does it support behavior, control, and intended use? And again, it empowers non-experts to evaluate and influence their environments.

Very simple example of this: The entrances of John Jay College. The college has a particular designation. It's a meeting place for academics. It's a research facility. That's the intended use. It's a teaching college. How do we socially and legally define it? Socially, there's certain behaviors that are accepted and certain behaviors that aren't accepted. It's not acceptable, for example, to run around John Jay College hallways screaming your head off. Although, I teach on the fourth floor and sometimes that happens because the athletics uh folks are right there. So they do get a little boisterous. Legally, the college has certain requirements in terms of ADA access, etc.

Look at the design of the entry points of the college. We have to go through turnstiles using our ID. If we don't have our ID, we have to check in with security. So if you look at how John Jay College functions in terms of designation, definition, design, it gives you a practical example of crime prevention through environmental design.

Other strategies include defining borders between public and private spaces. Um, and again, looking at John Jay College. We look at the turnstiles. We look at the placement of security officers. We know that we're entering the college. The college does have some public spaces, but it also has private spaces. And we're controlled basically based on the credentials we present. We try to align safe activities with unsafe locations to boost surveillance. Reassign space functions to reduce conflict. Improve lighting and visibility. Schedule and design space to encourage natural use and observation.

Crime mapping plays a role in this. It helps us, of course, look for those patterns and hotspots. It helps us understand the demographics. It helps us understand the land use, the observations, and of course, we can always interview to get people's perceptions on different spaces. So again, this is very much private security level versus public law enforcement. But myself, I come from a private security background. So I've always been of the opinion, let's prevent rather than respond.

There are benefits to crime prevention through environmental design that extend beyond crime reduction in our area. We're talking about improving urban revitalization and investment into the climate, which is desperately needed. Uh, talking about strengthening community cohesion and the relationship with police. You know, "defund the police" is often a chant I hear. It sounds nice, but I have to tell you that people in the neighborhoods where crime is high, they may have a strained relationship with the police, but they don't want to see the police re, you know, disappear either. That, that's an overreaction. Encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. And again, I come from a private security background. I'm all about prevention versus response. Support long and short-term planning goals. Um, and then help institutionalize safety and policy and design. In other words, even before, let's say, an apartment building is constructed, we're thinking about the security of that building before we hammer the first nail. It's into the policy and design of that building.

So, for those of you going into law enforcement, if you're looking for a secondary or a backup plan, I urge you to consider some of the private security courses that are now being offered out of law and police science. Uh, private security work is much more than just throwing on a guard's uniform and standing there. Crime prevention is a growing field and with the addition of AI and some various tools, it may prove to be a very lucrative field in addition to traditional law enforcement employment opportunities.

All right, that's our last lecture. The only other time you have to listen to my voice is by watching the final project tutorial videos, um, and also my overview of the final project. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me via email. Take care, everybody, and hope to talk to you soon.