BY INSPECTOR NICK PINKERTON
Local police work involves both dealing with immediate issues such as arresting offenders and protecting the vulnerable and longer term work to reduce crime and the opportunities for crime. Arresting criminals and putting them before the court does not necessarily provide respite from criminal behaviour for long, as the void can soon be filled. To combat this, Police Designing out Crime Officers (DOCO) deal full time with crime prevention and seek to make the built environment less favourable to criminals and homes and offices as secure as they can be. This can be as simple as giving advice on better fencing or lighting or as a complex as working with architects on the designs of new developments.
The role of the DOCO is to scrutinise planning proposals to make suggestions to reduce crime and opportunities for crime. Design impacts on how people interact with places and in particular anti-social behaviour and crime. Designing out crime is not simply a case of designing better locks and bolts, crime prevention needs to be designed-in at the start of a project. Good design can prevent crime from occurring, or at least reduce the opportunities for offender behaviour. The mistakes made in the past such as with badly designed deck access flats and high rises are well-known to have encouraged crime and anti-social behaviour. Early involvement of the Police in local developments ensures that any identified site specific problems can be resolved passively and discretely within the overall design. The DOCO uses techniques that show the impact of the built environment on the behaviour of criminals; who can then be dissuaded, thwarted and diverted from their aims through the implementation of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED).
DOCOs provide a free consultation for architects, planners and developers to ensure that the security and safety of the building is appropriate for the local crime levels. This advice is based upon the “Secured by Design” (SBD) guidelines developed from researched and proven techniques. This ensures that the security and safety of the building is appropriate for the local crime levels. Measures such as adequate lighting, the design of communal spaces, doorways not being concealed and hidden in shadow, clear lines of sight, perimeter security and the strategic use of planting and hedging can have a simple, yet dramatic impact on the level of crime experienced in new neighbourhoods.
Due to its importance as a community-based crime prevention resource, the DOCOs also support the Neighbourhood Watch Schemes and are always available to speak to victims of crime or indeed any other residents about their home or workplace security.
Runnymede’s DOCO is Mr Vic Smith who can be contacted at Addlestone Police Office.