Constructing well designed places, buildings and communities that reduce crime and harm, and promote sustainable, strong, cohesive, vibrant and participatory communities is an objective shared by everyone who cares about our communities. Every family deserves a secure, decent home
Introduction
The drive to enhance lives and foster robust, secure communities fuels the work of planning and building control professionals, as well as the broader built environment sector.
Achieving this vision, however, presents a multifaceted challenge, navigating diverse perspectives and competing priorities. Yet, collaborative partnerships are key to realising positive change, ensuring homes are safe and secure. This necessitates cross-sector cooperation, leveraging industry expertise, implementing effective security standards, and adhering to supportive legislation.
Historically, crime prevention and “designing out crime” have been perceived as cumbersome and unnecessary, often viewed as hindrances to the planning process. This misconception overlooks the fact that integrating crime prevention into initial designs not only minimises visual intrusion but also enhances community wellbeing and sustainability. The legacy of poor housing layouts from the 1960’s to early 1990’s underscores the devastating impact of inadequate design, fostering environments conducive to crime.
As the government prioritises housing, aiming to build 1.5 million homes, it is crucial to ensure these dwellings are secure. Poorly designed housing should not burden the criminal justice system or local authorities with costly replacements of substandard products.
This Designing out crime through thoughtful urban planning and development eBook addresses this need, focusing on proactive planning and security measures, the positive impact of Secured by Design initiatives, and relevant training opportunities. It emphasises the importance of constructing well-designed places that mitigate crime and promote sustainable, cohesive communities.
Ultimately, the shared goal is to provide every family with a secure and decent home, reflecting a collective commitment to improving community life.
Planning and security: Getting it right first time
Michael Brooke, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Secured by Design
Looking to the Oxford Dictionary for the definition of crime informs me, that it is “an offence against an individual or the state which is punishable by law”. I joined West Yorkshire Police on the 1st September 1980 and spent the next 12 weeks deep in study learning all about the laws that I would later be empowered to enforce. I have probably never been prouder than when my parents attended my Passing Out Ceremony at the end of that period, and together with my new colleagues, we moved around the drill square in unison like a well oiled machine.
Of course what isn’t immediately obvious at times like this to the watching crowd, is the considerable hard work and dedication to study that had been necessary for each and every officer present that day to successfully pass all elements of a complex course, and as a consequence be able to take the Constable’s Oath.
“I, Michael Brooke, do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady, the Queen in the office of Constable, without favour or affection, malice or ill will, and I will to the best of my power cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against the persons and property of Her Majesty’s subjects, and that while I continue to hold the said office I will to the best of my skill and knowledge discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law”.
(This oath is taken from the Police Act 1964, it would later be amended by the Police Reform Act 2002 which introduced references to human rights).
After a frighteningly quick thirty years of service I retired on 31st August 2010. On that day I returned what remained of a police uniform to the clothing store. The several binbags that contained them acting as a thoughtful reminder of how precious time is and how little of it we have.
That uniform had been with me through ‘thick and thin’. It had been spat at. Bricks, sticks and lit petrol had been launched at it. It had been applauded. It had been hated. The uniform had been a part of me and I was walking away. It was a sad day that would get worse.
I next visited the administration unit where my final act as a serving officer would be performed; handing in my Warrant Card. This bore a head and shoulders photo of me on the left with details of my identity on the right. The reverse was signed by the current Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, Sir Norman Bettison.
I asked the clerk what they wanted me to do with it and was told to simple put it on the adjacent table. That was it. Nothing more needed to be done. Then, and unexpectedly, the clerk asked if I would like the picture? Of course I said ‘yes please’, and then was speechless as with great skill and accuracy my photo was quickly severed by scissors from the remainder of the Warrant Card and handed to me. On autopilot I said thanks, but was mortified. It was a visible and decisive end to my policing career that no amount of forethought could have prepared me for. I left the building and joined my wife who was waiting outside and we drove home.
This drive home was very different to the one I undertook back in 1980 when I had newly qualified. That journey was with my policeman’s helmet proudly displayed on the rear parcel shelf of my first ever car, a Renault 16tl in metallic green, column gearshift and a cream leather interior. Do new recruits do that these days? Probably not, but I hope they feel able to. I loved that car. I didn’t know then that I would soon write the car off early one morning after a nightshift by losing control on snow and hitting a wall.
Why have I shared the above details with you when you have no doubt selected this article in expectation of reading about the planning system and the application of it with regards to designing out crime, because I never unsaid the oath. I remain as focussed today on keeping the Queen’s peace (now the King) as I have ever been. Likewise, keeping people and property safe are never far from my mind and I know that with the employment position I hold today that there are many ways in which I can continue to make a meaningful contribution to the discipline.
Keeping people and property safe
That contribution is made as a consequence of working for Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (Police CPI) as their Deputy Chief Operating Officer. I joined them directly from West Yorkshire Police in 2010. I suppose the clue as to what the organisation do is in the title, but the greater detail is that it was set up by the Police Service in 1989 – initially operating as Secured by Design – to deliver a wide range of innovative crime prevention and demand reduction initiatives. This activity supports the wider UK Police Service as well as the Government and the general public, it brings organisations together to reduce crime and the fear of crime thereby creating safer communities with an aim of preventing crime where we live, work and socialise.
I feel that over time we have developed into a major catalyst for organisations to work together to reduce and prevent crime and some of our key relationships that help us do this include the wider Policing family; the Home Office; Police and Crime Commissioners; the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG); National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO); National Protective Security Authority (NPSA); Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). We also work closely with academic institutions; local authorities; British and European standards authorities; trade associations; test houses; certification bodies; the construction industry; manufacturers and companies involved in security products – both within the UK and those in countries that supply the UK – as well as many other organisations.
When explaining to others about the makeup of Police CPI, I like to paint a picture where Police CPI is the parent who has a number of children, and in our case each child is a crime prevention initiative that has its own unique focus. The oldest child, and by far the most well known, is Secured by Design (SBD) now in its 36th year, which is the official police security initiative that works to improve the security of buildings and their immediate surroundings to keep people and property safe. It’s a clear ally to my strong desire to continue my work ethos that began back in 1980, of keeping the Queen’s peace.
Secured by Design
When I first joined Police CPI I did so as a Development Officer within SBD. This involved me performing due diligence on behalf of the police service so that the status of Police Preferred Specification could be correctly applied to products that prevent crime. An easy example of this would be doors and windows for it is known that when such products meet exacting standards of performance they will delay, even deter, would-be offenders. The manufacturers’ of such products being able to become SBD Members should they so chose.
Whilst the physical attributes of products such as doors and windows are known to prevent crime, the nature of the environment that surrounds them must not be ignored. Indeed, by close attention to such issues as surveillance, landscaping, access and movement, environmental design plays an enormous part in keeping individuals and communities safe.
It costs no more to design things well as it does to design them poorly
When I took up co-authorship responsibilities for SBD’s range of designing out crime guides, whilst never losing sight of the importance of physical security measures, it was always the environmental issues of design and layout that I found most interesting. Perhaps I had spent too long running after criminals, chasing them down alleys, footpaths, snickets, through a spider’s web of connections, which they always seemed to know better than I, until either I became almost lost, or could continue no more through exhaustion. As a young officer aged 18 I caught far more than I would in my latter years of service!
It struck me then, as it continues to strike me today, that it costs no more to design things well as it does to design them poorly. In fact, if we think about this with the long term in mind, the savings accrued from designing the environment well are huge when compared to designing that same environment poorly. Let’s consider for a moment a housing estate.
Back in 2004, the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) published Safer Places: The Planning System and Crime Prevention (now withdrawn). It documented how both safety and security were essential to successful and sustainable communities. The foreword was signed by the then Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill) and the Minister of State for Crime Reduction, Policing and Community Safety (Hazel Blears). It claimed that,
“… for far too long, too little attention has been paid by planners and designers to crime issues. As a result, there are far too many examples of poor quality development that has resulted in a costly and long-lasting heritage of the wrong kind.”
It went on to encourage greater attention to the principles of crime prevention and to the attributes of creating safer places. These attributes were seven in total and a section of the publication focused on each in turn; Access and Movement; Structure; Surveillance; Ownership; Physical Security; Activity; Management and Maintenance.
