SecurityArena

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED)

It is a discipline that outlines how the proper design of a physical environment can reduce crime by directly affecting human behavior. It provides guidance in loss and crime prevention through proper facility construction and environmental components and procedures. CPTED and target hardening are two different approaches.

Target hardening

It focuses on denying access through physical and artificial barriers (alarms, locks, fences, and so on). Traditional target hardening can lead to restrictions on the use, enjoyment, and aesthetics of an environment.

CPTED Approaches

• Natural access control is the guidance of people entering and leaving a space by the placement of doors, fences, lighting, and even landscaping. For example, an office building may have external bollards with lights in them. These bollards actually carry out different safety and security services.
• Natural Surveillance can also take place through organized means (security guards), mechanical means (CCTV), and natural strategies (straight lines of sight, low landscaping, raised entrances). The goal of natural surveillance is to make criminals feel uncomfortable, by providing many ways that observers could potentially see them, and make all other people feel safe and comfortable, by providing an open and well-designed environment.
• Territorial Reinforcement creates physical designs that emphasize or extend the company’s physical sphere of influence so that legitimate users feel a sense of ownership of that space. Territorial reinforcement can be implemented through the use of walls, fences, landscaping, light fixtures, flags, clearly marked addresses, and decorative sidewalks. The goal of territorial reinforcement is to create a sense of a dedicated community.