Homework Responses Wk 4

Good day, Professor and Class;

 

For this week's discussion, we are to give insight concerning the routine activity theory and its correlation to physical security and the security manager's role.

The routine activity theory focuses on the characteristics of crime and the offender. Indicating that environment has a role in the occurrence of crime at a place. The theory is similar to the triangle of crime, where a target needs to be accessible (opportunity), the absence of guardian of the absence of authority (ability), and the presence of an offender (ability). In this case, the target could be a person, an asset, or a place and of a value that could be removed from the scene. The absence of the human element that by the presence solely can deter a crime from happening, in some cases, CCTV's presence can prevent crimes when in plain view. (Brooks & Smith, 2013)

Target hardening is one of the responsibilities of a security manager to deter crimes. The RAT theory gives a security manager an idea of how to remove one of the three elements to deter a crime. By removing accessibility to the target by installing access control, a perpetrator might not be able to access the target. As noted above, even with the absence of the human element from the picture, other measures like CCTV can serve the same purpose as a human element.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the CPTED principle related to physical security?

Writing about one of my most favorite subjects in security always gets me excited. CPTED, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, is a method that employs the physical attributes of a building to build a sense of security by altering the conditions that present an opportunity to criminals. When first developed, CPTED only focused on the physical side of the building. Later, CPTED was developed into what is known as second-generation CPTED, which focuses on the sociological aspect of the environment to remove the opportunity. (ASISI, 2015)

CPTED has the advantage of removing one part of the triangle, opportunity, but what about the other two sides? If the motive is present, signage or small shrubberies will not stop a perpetrator from committing his crime. Another disadvantage to CPTED is that it could remove crime from one place to another less protected. Imagine if an apartment complex is adjacent to a secure mall and criminals realize they have no chance of committing their crimes in the mall's parking lot. The next available option would be the apartment complex's parking lot.

 

 

References

ASIS International, Knoke, M. E., C., & Peterson, K. E. (2015a). Physical Security Principles (First ed.). ASIS International.

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