People love to enjoy the outdoors during warm-weather months and that includes property-crime offenders. Break-and-enter culprits often target houses at random, but homeowners have tools on-hand to reduce the risk of becoming victims of crime.
In this anti-crime campaign, St. Albert RCMP is urging homeowners to consider Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, a tactical four-point plan for spring and summer projects that makes a property less appealing to criminals.
In short, the plan's set of design principles are meant to reduce crime by using effective landscaping choices that thwart the ability of a criminal to succeed.
“It’s a way of looking around your property and asking ‘does everything look secure?’ It’s trying to think past our normal expectations of locking doors and windows,” said M-J Burroughs, media liaison for St. Albert RCMP.
The program highlights four principles: natural surveillance; natural access control; territorial reinforcement; and space management and maintenance.
Natural surveillance refers to keeping a good line of sight throughout the property to deter criminals planning a home invasion. Big trees, thick bushes, and yard boulders are attractive to wildlife, but they can also camouflage offenders.
“Natural surveillance are trees and bushes that are kept at a level you can see over them. Some people have shrubs (that) cover up their windows,” Burroughs said.
Natural access control takes it a step further.
“Is there a clear walkway to the door and different areas of access to your home? Basically, it’s trying to prevent anyone who can conceal themselves at the doorway with shrubs because you don’t have clear access control.”
Territorial reinforcement refers to how homeowners decorate and personalize their property on the exterior to give a house a lived-in feeling – pots of flowers, trimmed bushes, cut grass, and a tidy home and garage.
“Territorial reinforcement is making sure you have motion-sense lighting outside that comes on. Do you have a door with a peephole to see who is coming and going at the front door? It’s things like that and knowing who your neighbours are.”
The final principle is space management and maintenance – the continued upkeep and repair of a property.
“It’s about keeping things clear and not having too much clutter around where people can hide. Most people might have a chair on the doorstep or porch. That’s OK. But there are some people that have too many things out that clutter. Or they haven’t maintained their property," Burroughs said.
Although opaque fences block a line of sight, Burroughs notes they are natural backyard barriers that discourage entry.
“I absolutely recommend having a fence for your backyard so it’s containing the area. I absolutely recommend installing motion-detector lights. It’s huge, especially at night. You don’t want light that’s going to bother your neighbour, but we have so many options right now, including solar lights. They’re a good defence mechanism.”
Burroughs said in addition to installing locks on doors, it’s a good idea to invest in locks for windows.
“In days gone by, you could get wood doweling for sliding windows so they wouldn’t slide completely open. A lot of new ones can be set to open only a small amount. But if you’re in an older home, we still recommend wood doweling or an aluminum-type bar so criminals don’t jimmy it open.”
Another important safety measure is installing exterior doors that open outward.
“If somebody is going to break in and they have the ability kick a door, it’s easier to kick a door in. It’s harder to kick a door that swings outwards. It’s the same with windows.”
Homeowners are also encouraged to lock their front doors and garage door while working in the backyard as well as asking neighbours or friends to maintain their property while travelling.
“If you see anything suspicious, whether it’s on your property or your neighbour’s, don’t hesitate to call the police. We work 24 hours a day. If you think something isn’t right, trust your instincts. Give us a call.”
St. Albert RCMP can be reached at 780-458-4300 or in an emergency at 911.
