2008-11-05 P & R Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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~ improved safety and as such believes that the presence of lighting alone is enough to improve safety. The remaining readers will select the walkway that borders the houses as the proper lighting application. They will base their decision on the belief that a safe environment only occurs when lighting and witnesses are combined. This will cause them to select the populated walkway over the isolated one, as they believe that it is the only example that has all the elements to make it truly safe. It is, in my opinion, an appreciation of this fact that makes the populated walkway the proper choice. Lighting in the absence of witnesses should never be equated with safety. Crimes routinely occur in well-lit, yet inadequately populated, areas. This is certainly true of our walkway example where all the criminal activity is concentrated in the isolated section of the walk despite the fact that the populated section is separated by nothing more than a municipal street. The safety ramifications don't end there however. The mere fact that a walkway is lit will influence people to use it. This is particularly true of the average person who relies on little more than their instincts to keep them free of harm. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the criminal element, who consciously look for crime opportunities that minimize their risks. In the case of the isolated walkway, they recognize that the walkway itself serves as a movement predictor which leads potential victims past a point of their choice at a time that reinforces their advantage. This inevitably occurs after dusk when there are fewer people around. What then can be said of a lit, yet isolated, walkway should a crime occur. In the event of a crime, it can be argued that the lights have done little more than rob potential victims of their night vision while literally leading them down the proverbial garden path. This makes the criminals more difficult to see, who, by virtue of the lights, are themselves in a better position to engage in target selection while visually clearing the area for potential witnesses and interveners. The net effect is increased victimization and a policy in need of review. The application of CPT ED principles can help in this regard. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design believes that the proper design and effective use of the environment can lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime as well as an improvement in the quality of life. Despite its name, the CPTED emphasis is directed towards helping various disciplines achieve their primary objective and in the process reduce crime and loss through improved functioning. Given our park example, the first step should be to ask the simple yet important question "What are you trying to do?" This will help give the CPTED practitioner a basic understanding of the objectives that were intended for the park. The CPTED practitioner will then look for ways to improve the park's function by asking the follow-up question "how can we do it better?"