Use design to beat crime, govt calls
The government is supporting a new initiative intended to ‘design out crime’.
The Home Office is teaming up with designers to encourage businesses to think of the appeal to criminals when designing new products and services.
Ministers believe products and architecture can be modified to make crime less attractive or harder to carry out.
An independent Design and Technology Alliance has been founded with the brief to raise the profile of innovative design as a crime fighting tool.
Announcing the initiative today, Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said: “Innovative design has played an important role in driving down crime overall by a third over the past decade.
“Much of the 51 per cent fall in vehicle crime in particular can be attributed to design improvements such as immobilisers and toughened glass.
“The Design and Technology Alliance will seek to build on these achievements. They will champion the message that designing out crime is about sustainable and innovative design of products, spaces and places to make crime unattractive and make communities feel safer.”
The alliance has been founded by Sebastian Conran of Conran and Partners, and John Sorrell, the chair of the commission for architecture and the built environment (CABE).
They will be joined by David Kester, chief executive of the Design Council; Jeremy Myerson, professor of design studies at Royal College of Art; Gloria Laycock, director of UCL centre for security and crime science; Lorraine Gamman, director of the Design Against Crime Research Centre at Central St Martins; and David Kester, chief executive of the Design Council.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said designing out crime is a serious concept that deserves serious attention.
Mr Davis added: “However it is not a panacea. Without real action – like slashing police red tape and putting our officers on the streets – it will not be anywhere near enough.
“It will be yet another government initiative that proves more effective at getting a headline than solving a problem.”
Supporting the alliance, Ian McInnes from the Association of Chief Police Officers crime prevention initiatives said: “There are excellent examples to show designing-out crime works.
“The police service supports the alliance to build on these examples and encourage more designers and manufacturers to address crime risk at the design stage.”
As examples of crime-proof design, The Home Office says introducing gated alleys in Liverpool reduced burglaries by 37 per cent. Credit card fraud also fell by 46 per cent after the introduction of chip and pin.
The alliance is part of a renewed government focus on design out crime, trailed in the new Crime Strategy announced last month by Jacqui Smith.
Ministers want businesses to accept responsibility for ensuring products and services do not enable criminals. They argue business should consider the social impact of crime in the same way they would health and safety or the environment.
