From the Desk of Cpl. Kevlon Kirkpatrick,
District 3 Liaison Officer

Crime Prevention News and Updates

National Night Out

National Night Out 2014 is Coming!

Even if your block or neighborhood isn’t participating in a party this year on Tuesday, August 5, please join  us  Saturday, August 2 at 1:30 p.m. at the West Court (entrance near Panera) of the Fashion Square Mall for ways  you can  partner with the Orlando Police Department to  prevent crime in your  neighborhood.

Or join us on Monday, August 4 at 6 p.m. at the SODO Super Target for the  City’s official  National Night Out Kick-off Party.  Enjoy free food, demonstrations,  entertainment and time to interact with our Orlando Police and Fire  Departments.

We are also asking that everyone turn on their porch lights on August 5th to show that we are united in our stand against crime in our community!

What is CPTED?

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED; pronounced “sep-ted”) is a practice that is internationally recognized and can be used as a measure in both commercial and residential building.  CPTED is based on the principle that proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the incidence of crime, and an improvement in quality of life. CPTED utilizes four overlapping strategies:

• Natural Surveillance: Design the site to keep intruders easily observable. This is promoted by features that maximize visibility of people, parking areas and building entrances; doors and windows that look out onto streets and parking areas; pedestrian-friendly walkways; porches or patios and adequate nighttime lighting.
•  Natural Access Control: Design the site to decrease crime opportunity by denying access to crime targets and creating in offenders, a perception of risk.  This can be accomplished by designing street, sidewalks, building and parking lot entrances to clearly indicate public routes and discourage access to private areas with structural and landscape elements.
• Territorial Reinforcement: Design can create or extend a sphere of influence, where users develop a sense of territorial control, while potential offenders are discouraged.  This is promoted by incorporating features that define property lines and distinguish private spaces from public spaces such as; landscape plantings, pavement designs, gateway treatments and CPTED style open design (see-through) fences.
• Target Hardening: This can be accomplished by incorporating features that prohibit entry or access by potential offenders. Such features might include window locks, dead bolts for doors, metal frames, interior hinges, locking devices for sliding glass doors and impact resistant glass or security film on windows.