What is CPTED?
CPTED is an acronym for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. It is a concept that promotes crime prevention by encouraging planners, builders, architects, police departments, etc. to design and/or redesign public and private structures and environments to reduce the likelihood of crime. For more information about CPTED contact Tami Wyrick at 804-786-5664.
Crime prevention through environmental design, or CPTED, is a multi-disciplinary approach to reducing crime and increasing perceived safety. CPTED relies upon the influence of offender behavior. It seeks to dissuade offenders from committing crimes by manipulating the physical environment in which those crimes occur. As a result, it relies upon an understanding of what about the environment influences offenders. CPTED is most effective when involving environmental designers (e.g., Architects, landscape architects), land managers (e.g., Park managers), community action (e.g., Neighborhood watch groups), and law enforcement. If any of the four defender groups are removed it is likely that a CPTED strategy will be less effective than it might otherwise be.
