A new survey by online ironmongery supplier, IronmongeryDirect, has found that 52% of tradespeople have fallen victim to tool theft, with almost a quarter (21%) saying it’s happened to them more than once. The results of the survey, completed by 1,000 tradespeople, back up the reported 54% rise in tool
Crime Prevention Through Pro-Social Design recognises that the offender is very likely to be part of our community and that enhancing an offender’s emotional or moral attachment to an area through its design may reduce their desire or inclination to commit crimes within the community A UNIVERSITY of Huddersfield professor has investigated
Ahead of the £1.3 billion prison building programme planned by the Ministry of Justice, a new study has outlined recommendations for reform to the way prison buildings are designed and operated. If implemented, the research suggests these changes could reduce assaults on staff by more than 50%, significantly reduce the
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
A new survey by online ironmongery supplier, IronmongeryDirect, has found that 52% of tradespeople have fallen victim to tool theft, with almost a quarter (21%) saying it’s happened to them more than once. The results of the survey, completed by 1,000 tradespeople, back up the reported 54% rise in tool thefts in the last two years* – with even a quarter of those who haven’t been a victim reporting that they know someone who has. Each theft is reported to cost a tradesperson on average £1,200**, which equates to typically more than a week’s pay. Commenting on the survey results, Marco Verdonkschot, Managing Director of IronmongeryDirect, said: “It is worrying to see that across the industry tool theft numbers are continuing to rise, especially during the dark winter months. “There are a number of simple steps tradespeople can take to increase their van security such as parking against a wall in a well-lit area when out on a job, installing a van safe or taking their tools inside overnight. To tighten up security even further, van lock protection plates, dashcams or CCTV systems can be fantastic deterrents for would-be thieves.” For more survey results, please visit www.ironmongerydirect.com/landing/trade-barometer. IronmongeryDirect has over 18,000 products available and in stock. Orders can be placed as late as 8pm for next day delivery from Sunday through to Friday and by 4pm on Saturdays. Free, no quibble returns are available on all products. For more information, visit IronmongeryDirect.com or call their team of specialist advisors on 0800 168 28 28.
Crime Prevention Through Pro-Social Design recognises that the offender is very likely to be part of our community and that enhancing an offender’s emotional or moral attachment to an area through its design may reduce their desire or inclination to commit crimes within the community A UNIVERSITY of Huddersfield professor has investigated ways in which the design of dwellings and the layout of residential areas can deter offenders. Now, she aims to discover if better buildings and more sympathetic spaces can prevent people from turning to crime in the first place. It was while conducting research with convicted burglars that she was inspired to take this new direction. Rachel Armitage is Professor of Criminology at the University and one of her key areas has been the field termed Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), which has established that buildings and the spaces between them will experience varying levels of crime based on their design, build and management. Now, Professor Armitage has made what she describes as a significant change in her research and is focussing on what she terms Crime Prevention Through Pro-Social Design (CPTPSD). She has outlined her new ideas at a major overseas conference and will now edit a special journal exploring the concept. “CPTED treats offenders as external, as ‘outsiders’, so you protect an area by designing them out. But Crime Prevention Through Pro-Social Design recognises that the offender is very likely to be part of our community and that perhaps enhancing an offender’s emotional or moral attachment to an area may reduce their desire or inclination to commit crimes within the community,” said Professor Armitage. Secured by design As part of her designing-out-crime research, she showed a number of convicted burglars a series of photos of houses and streets, in order to discover the features that made properties and neighbourhoods most vulnerable – such as low fences, or footpaths at the back of a house. But two of the images elicited a very different response. “The offenders would say ‘I wouldn’t burgle that house because it reminds me of where I grew up’, or ‘it’s like where my grandma lives’. These were a kind of moral responses to the features of the area, as if the design sparked a feeling that it would be wrong to commit a crime against something personal to them,” said Professor Armitage. This was the trigger for her new direction, and she explored the idea when invited to deliver a keynote address at the 2018 Crime Prevention and Communities conference hosted in Melbourne by the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Victorian Department of Justice and Regulation. Her well-received paper was titled ‘A more reliable glimpse’: Re-positioning the offender in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. “There is a lot of research on how the design of an environment can impact on someone’s mental health – such as their vulnerability to becoming depressed, anxious or to using drugs,” said Professor Armitage. “All of those factors can increase a person’s risk of becoming an offender, so if we brought the two areas together and designed places which reduced mental illness and which reduced exclusion, then these people may feel less inclined to commit crimes in those areas.” Professor Armitage has now been invited to edit a special edition of the Journal of Social Sciences. Due to appear in 2019, it will be titled Crime Prevention Through Pro-social Design. An international call for contributions has now been made. “I am asking people to submit papers that explore how design can impact on offending from a very different perspective. It is a matter of designing in pro-social behaviour,” said Professor Armitage. “Designing out crime definitely still has a place and we have come a long way towards embedding this into our planning system. I was involved in that. But I think CPTED needs to evolve.”
Ahead of the £1.3 billion prison building programme planned by the Ministry of Justice, a new study has outlined recommendations for reform to the way prison buildings are designed and operated. If implemented, the research suggests these changes could reduce assaults on staff by more than 50%, significantly reduce the stress under which staff work, reduce overall lifecycle costs and see prisoners rehabilitated – cutting reoffending rates in England and Wales, which currently stand at some of the highest in Europe. In fact, figures show that just under half of all adult prisoners are likely to reoffend within one year of release at a cost to the tax payer of £13 billion a year. Compiled by a panel of expert criminologists and psychologists with input from charities, prisoners, victims and prison managers the new report, entitled ‘Rehabilitation by Design; Influencing Change in Prisoner Behaviour’, examines how reforming management methods and prison design could significantly improve that outlook. It asserts that the primary aim for any new prison programme must be to address the huge reoffending rate and suggests this could be achieved through the use of innovative yet cost effective changes to the built environment. It goes on to investigate the ways in which behavioural policies and clever design principles have benefited prison systems abroad, and how these initiatives could be successfully implemented in the UK. The report was presented to MPs, peers and industry experts recently in a reception at the House of Commons. It has been spearheaded by property and construction consultancy Gleeds and features contributions from a number of academics, including; Professor Keith Humphreys of the University of Stanford and Professor Yvonne Jewkes from the University of Brighton, with the support of management consultants PwC. Richard Steer, Chairman of Gleeds Worldwide, said: “This new study offers some fantastic insights into how we can maximise the opportunity presented by the proposed new build prisons programme. By reviewing the way in which we design and operate our facilities we have the chance to make some truly positive changes to the criminal justice system, reducing reoffending rates and making our prisons both safer and more efficient for inmates and staff.”
