Secured by design - learning from the past to secure the future!

The Secured by Design (SBD) scheme is a United Kingdom police crime prevention initiative in which the police inspect building designs and recommend actions to 'prevent crime'. If those recommended actions are implemented, the scheme is awarded the police SBD logo that suggests the buildings are approved by the police as being secure. The scheme has been in operation for over a decade and has tended to focus on housing but in latter years has been expanded to cover other areas such as car parks and commercial areas. Despite the length of time SBD has been operating and its adoption by the Association of Chief Police Officers as a policy tool, there has been, to date, a lack of scientific research to assess the effectiveness of the scheme. Most work that has been done is in housing and it is this that the paper reviews. It focuses on public sector housing and examines the: impact of SBD on fear of crime; impact of SBD on crime; cost implications of applying SBD; quality of life improvements linked to SBD; take up of SBD within the UK and other countries. It suggests that SBD has been a success in all these areas but could be significantly improved by targeting housing management and marketing to a wider and more influential audience. Finally, the lessons learnt from the housing arena that could be transferred to other SBD areas is discussed.