Designing Out Crime Officer Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Frank served in Merseyside Police for over 45 years prior to his retirement in October 2024, working in several departments including investigations, tackling drugs, and custody, followed by 25 years within the Crime Prevention field. An early avid supporter of Secured by Design, Frank was knowledgeable about, supported, and promoted the benefits of SBD, and was, for a considerable time, the only Crime Prevention Officer covering the whole of the Merseyside area.

l-r: South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Lauren Poultney, DOCO Frank Stott and Police CPI CEO Guy Ferguson

Frank regularly liaised with senior police officers to illustrate the benefits of crime prevention and how this relates to Secured by Design, and his department achieved National Home Office recognition for developing an ‘interactive street scene’ crime prevention website that the public could access - the first of its kind.

Frank’s understanding and extensive knowledge of the importance of crime prevention and Secured by Design led to his leading role in devising numerous training packages used by the Police Crime Prevention Academy for new and front-line officers.

In 2015, Frank was recognised by Secured by Design for his work on the award-winning Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. More recently, Frank worked on Merseyside Police’s new headquarters and campus site with St. Anne Street Police Station, which finished in October 2023. Both of these sites achieved an SBD Gold Award for their security attributes.

Frank was nominated for the first Preventative Policing award in Merseyside, an award he won as part of Merseyside Police’s Team of the Year for the preventative work that he and his team undertook within the communities of Knowsley. He accumulated many awards and achieved trailblazing results that benefited both the community and the police of Merseyside.

As well as his role with Merseyside Police, Frank also volunteers with Merseyside Police Cadets at the weekend, and has delivered a series of lectures to First Year Criminology students at Liverpool John Moores University in order to highlight how the built environment influences crime and criminal behaviour.

Nominating Frank for the award, his colleague, Paul Griffiths, said: “Frank is respected, well liked, and appreciated by officers across the force and within the SBD world. It can be difficult to escape Frank once he starts discussing Crime Prevention and SBD, but this only reinforces his passion and commitment to the role of which he so rigorously defends.

“Frank has been a constant in an ever-changing environment. It is no surprise that Frank is referred to as ‘the font of all knowledge’. Frank, thank you for everything you have done and continue to do. Merseyside Police and SBD are all the better for having had you for the last 45 years.”

Receiving the award, Frank said: “I am honoured and humbled to be nominated and to receive this award from my colleagues within the SBD community. Secured by Design and crime prevention is something I have always been passionate about, the importance of reducing crime and making our communities safe has been my pleasure and to be recognised for this is amazing.”

Hazel Goss, SBD Development Officer, said: “I have known Frank for many years as a colleague and friend, and I believe this award is so well deserved. Not only does it show all the hard work he puts into his DOCO role but also his ongoing commitment to Designing Out Crime and the work we all do within Secured by Design. He has been an excellent role model and I am so very proud that I worked alongside him as his Development Officer. I wish him all the very best for his retirement.”

Frank was presented with the commendation at Secured by Design’s ATLAS training event by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives CEO Guy Ferguson and South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Lauren Poultney, the head of profession for police Designing Out Crime Officers.

Police Designing Out Crime Officers

Police Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs) have a key role in implementing crime prevention into local communities by working closely with local planning authorities. Liaising with planners, architects, designers, developers and those responsible for the refurbishment of buildings of all types, DOCOs provide ongoing specialist advice to enable building designs to be as safe and secure as is reasonably possible, promoting an awareness of the principles of crime prevention through design to both build awareness of, and ensure the adoption of, recommended security standards and specifications.

DOCOs are able to deliver site specific interventions required to help design out crime in areas that suffer disproportionately from acquisitive crime, based on local crime pattern analysis, police, local authority and community engagement and the collective knowledge and experience of how criminals behave. These specialist officers are working every day to make a positive difference, changing lives for the better and helping people to be safe and secure in their homes.

Contact details for local DOCOs can be found here.

The ATLAS Conference and Exhibition

Every year since the mid-1990’s SBD have hosted a Continuing Professional Development training conference for the Designing Out Crime Officers and Crime Prevention Officers based in police forces around the country who deliver SBD at a local level, the ATLAS conference and exhibition.

This event sees Designing Out Crime Officers and Crime Prevention Officers coming together to stay up to date with the ever-changing landscape of new standards, statutory requirements and technical developments. With delegates attending from all over England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales – as well as the British Transport Police and delegates from other roles within the crime prevention, planning and construction fields - it is also a chance for them to share best practice across forces and network with colleagues from around the UK.

SBD offer a number of opportunities at the ATLAS conference exclusively to member companies to interact directly with these officers and introduce them to their products and innovations. ATLAS continues to grow year on year, with this year’s being the largest ever held, with more exhibitors than ever before taking advantage of the fantastic opportunity afforded by the conference.