University praises Secured by Design for presentation to policing students to give them ‘greater appreciation’ of crime prevention

He said undergraduates working toward a BSc in Policing were the recruits of the future who may be going on to work alongside experienced officers on the front-line in towns, cities and rural communities to keep residents safe.

It was only right that they should hear from senior and experienced officers from a wide range of specialist roles about what the Police Service is like and what career paths and opportunities it has to offer not only to young students but also mature students too.

Richard served in the Police Service for 16.5 years starting as a recruitment officer on the Met’s Positive Action Team before becoming a PC on a 999 response team at Charing Cross Police Station in central-London. He moved on to become a Sergeant with the Safer Transport Team in Lambeth Borough and finally at Bromley Police Station in South-east London. It was then that an opportunity arose to lecture on policing at Canterbury Christ Church.

Richard said: “It was great to invite the Designing Out Crime Officers to come speak to our students. It has given them the opportunity to see how much of the theory that they learn in their lectures is applied to the real world. This gives them a greater appreciation of the importance of building crime prevention into real world projects.”

Richard was speaking after a presentation to first-year policing students on Tuesday, 4 December by SBD Development Officer Lyn Poole, and Kent Designing Out Crime Officer Linda Mason. They highlighted the importance of Designing Out Crime Officers, who are attached to Police Forces around the country, who work with architects, developers and local authority planners to design out crime at the planning stage – long before construction begins.

SBD measures increase the physical security of buildings with robust doors, windows and locks, which make it more difficult to break-in. SBD crime prevention techniques extend into the surrounding layout and landscaping, such as to increase natural surveillance so strangers can be seen clearly and limit excessive through movement by avoiding cut-throughs and alleyways to minimise hiding places and escape routes.

More than one million new homes in the UK have been built to SBD crime prevention standards and have reduced crime on new housing developments by up to 87% each year and every year – a huge benefit to the Police Service when policing resources are under intense pressure and demand.

One of the 2,400 word essays being undertaken by some of Richard’s first year students at the time of the presentation was titled: ‘The future of policing is not the arrest of perpetrators of crime but the prevention of future offences’.

At the end of their first year, students can continue their core police degree or opt to specialise in criminal investigation, criminal psychology, critical incidents, cyber security, global perspectives, terrorism and political violence and youth justice.

The BSc in Policing degree attracts around 100 students a year with around 20% of them going on to join the Police Service as front-line officers. Some students have chosen to go into witness care or join other organisations like the UK Border Agency or the Sandhurst Military Academy to become Military Police Officers.

Further information about policing degrees at Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury:
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Visit: www.canterbury.ac.uk/lcjc