Lifetime Achievement Award for Essex Designing Out Crime Officer

Prior to becoming a crime prevention specialist, Stephen was a Police Officer with Essex Police for 30 years, specialising in scenes of crime. Upon retiring 14 years ago, he continued to work for Essex Police as a Designing Out Crime Officer (DOCO)/Crime Prevention Tactical Advisor (CPTA). 

A strong advocate of designing out crime and SBD principles, Stephen continually looks for opportunities to develop and influence key stakeholders to ensure he provides the best service, going above and beyond to engage with developers, housing associations and architects to ensure schemes are designed with Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in mind.

Among other notable achievements, Stephen is recognised and highly regarded as a specialist in the field of Heritage Crime at a local, regional, and national level. His commitment to the prevention of crime across the heritage sector has seen him work alongside Historic England, the Arts Council, Ecclesiastical Insurance, Institute of Historic Building Conservation, and the National Museum Security Group, to name but a few. Stephen has also assisted many DOCO colleagues across the country with designing out crime/crime prevention advice of a heritage nature and was a co-presenter of a recent SBD ‘Essentials’ heritage webinar.

As a member of the NPCC Heritage Crime Working Group, Stephen is able to share his knowledge and expertise with others. Due to the often-historic nature of some places of worship, Stephen has been undertaking SBD’s Places of Worship Scheme visits for his force area since the scheme’s inception. 

Stephen identified the importance of how the DOCO role can positively influence the reduction of crime in all its forms, creating safer and more secure environments, including personal gardens and the broader public realm. He was heavily involved in the development of the 'Safe and Secure' show garden at Hyde Hall Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Flower Show, a collaborative crime prevention project with SBD, Essex Police and the RHS.

As crime continues to evolve, Stephen is proactive in his role and constantly seeks new ways to mitigate against it. A recent example of his initiative and forward thinking is his work involving enhanced security provision within solar farms. He was one of the first DOCOs in the Essex region to comment on Solar Farm Planning Applications and identify the potential opportunities for crime.

To expand his knowledge, he contacted major energy providers to broker security recommendations and to obtain a broader understanding of the potential risks that these sites could incur. Since the initial application, Stephen has developed this as a specialism, which is reflected by the guidance he has been asked to provide for a regional input into Essex Police’s Design Guide and local policy into security for such facilities.

Stephen Armson-Smith said of receiving the award, “I was very surprised (as can be seen in the photograph of me receiving it!) and delighted to receive this award, more so as it comes from those I work with. My passion is with the heritage sector, showing that the risk of crime in most cases can be mitigated even if at times it needs a bit of lateral and constructive thinking, and sometimes with compromises to arrive at a compatible, effective solution.”

Lyn Poole, SBD Development Officer covering the South-East region, said of Stephen: “He is an incredibly knowledgeable DOCO and a great advocate for Secured by Design. He understands that buildings of different ages have different security requirements, and his experience around historical buildings and grounds in particular is priceless.”

l-r: Chief Constable Lauren Poultney, Stephen Armson-Smith & Guy Ferguson

Stephen Armson-Smith was presented with the commendation at Secured by Design’s ATLAS conference and exhibition by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives CEO Guy Ferguson and South Yorkshire Chief Constable Lauren Poultney, head of profession for the Police Service’s DOCOs.

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.

Find out about SBD membership here.