By Viktor Chong viktorchong@thestar.com.my

Crime prevention is not an endeavour that the police force has to tackle alone. Fascinatingly, crime can also be encouraged and discouraged by the design of a township or development. Hence, a safety-conscious house buyer should always ensure that the development he or she is buying has CPTED features.

 What is CPTED?

CPTED or Crime Prevention Through Design is how developers can design their townships or developments to prevent crime. The strategy involves the incorporation of an environment that increases the risk and perceived risk for an offender to be caught. 

Here are the three main principles in CPTED:

Natural surveillance

Natural surveillance occurs by designing the area in a way where visibility is maximised while hiding spots for offenders are minimised. This is achieved through several measures:

1/ Hedges are planted and trimmed low along the sidewalks to increase visibility and deny hiding areas for offenders.

2/ Windows face potential crime areas while obstructions are removed to increase the line of sight. These obstructions include trees or walls, which can be substituted with a see-through chain-link fence.

3/ Roads are designed to funnel in vehicular traffic, which acts as natural surveillance along the pedestrian walkways.

4/ Lighting is strategically placed to illuminate the neighbourhood. Glaring lights are avoided as it reduces visibility.

Natural territory reinforcement

Detection is made easier if public and private spaces are clearly differentiated, as strange people would stand out if they happen to be in a private area. Through the usage of signboards, art, fences and strategic landscaping, clear boundaries are established and defined. Such measures are: 

 1/ Restriction of private activities to defined private areas.

 2/ Scheduling community activities in targeted areas to attract people, which provides natural surveillance.

 3/ Display of security system signage at access points. 

Natural access control

Natural access control utilises the placements of barriers to keep unauthorised individuals from a particular place. This barrier could be physical or psychological or a combination of both. Among them are:

 1/ Usage of structure to divert people to reception areas.

 2/ Elimination of design features that provide access to the upper level or roof areas.

 3/ Implementation of signboards to move individuals to desired places.

 4/ Placement of hedges alongside the pedestrian walkway, or more precisely at the edge of the curb, forming a natural barrier to prevent snatch thieves from grabbing at passersby.

 CPTED is a comprehensive discipline with many facets, and these lists are but a few out of many. As a house buyer, it would be wise for us to consider such features in our future homes and perhaps, place it as among the vital criteria for our decision-making process. After all, we cannot place a price tag on the safety of our loved ones.