Homework Responses Week 3

As we learned this week from Smith and Brooks, “The built environment is the establishment and formation of our external surroundings, which influences our development and behavior”. Security Science explains that the built environment is made up of human made structures in elements such as land space, urban design, and transport systems (Smith & Brooks, p. 82). The built environment has the capability to reinforce people’s perception of safety. This perception is accomplished through the utilization of security measures such as, physical reinforcement, CPTED, territorial reinforcement, and quality management. While reinforcement provides a safer and secure environment it does not necessarily equate a feeling of safety. Too much reinforcement may have a negative influence or perception of the built environment leading legitimate users to feel uncomfortable in their surroundings and causing a feeling of anxiety or worrisome. To avoid over reinforcing, the security professional must rely on elements of natural access control, natural surveillance, lighting, and territorial reinforcement. Natural access controls allow for clear lines of demarcation to separate legitimate and illegitimate users. Natural surveillance has a psychological effect of intruders when legitimate users can keep an eye out over their territory. Taking advantage of these strategies creates a sense of ownership, and dominance for the legitimate user.

               Security Science defines the facility manager as, “The primary role of a facility manager is to provide a safe environment, followed by legality, costs, and customer service” (Smith & Brooks, p. 86). The facility manager ensures three general guidelines are adhered to within the facility, those guidelines are, provide a positive influence, be aligned to productivity, and be fit for purpose (Smith & Brooks, p. 85). By adhering to these guidelines, the facility manager can produce two results, maintain the integrity of a facility, and maximize the return on investment for facility owners (Smith & Brooks, p. 86). With the emerging concepts of high-rise buildings, vulnerabilities have also arisen, intertwining the relationship between facility management and security management. Security management must be familiar with the facility managers goals to recommend upgrades or improvements. Meanwhile, the facility manager must educate the security manager in vital facility operations to identify vulnerabilities. Smith and Brooks, provide a great example in Security Science with the illustration of access control on a door that requires heavy traffic, ultimately leading to a door propped situation, which bypasses security measures, rendering it impractical because it was no aligned to productivity, nor fit for purpose, and ultimately not providing a positive influence.

Reference:

Smith, C., & Brooks D.J. (2013). Security Science : The Theory and Practice of Security. Butterworth-Heinemann.