Picture this: House A has dense shrubs across the front, no outside lighting, toys in the yard, an open garage door and random wind-blown debris strewn about the property. House B has low shrubs and landscaping, an open view of the front, closed (and locked) doors and plenty of outside lighting. Which one is the more likely target for a burglary?

If you picked House A, you understand the importance of design to home security.

Criminals look for targets of opportunity. They go for the weakest and most vulnerable looking people. They target houses where they are least likely to be seen and can get in and out with little delay. Design makes the difference. Good design principles increase property values and discourage crime.

There’s a house behind these shrubs. Can you find the crook? (Chip Dawson photo)

CPTED—Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design—spells out the concepts that make your property more secure. It has four basic tenets:

• Natural Surveillance. Criminals do not want to be seen. If they can hide behind huge shrubbery, dark spots or in secluded doorways, they are in their element.
• Natural Access Control. Well-defined walkways and entries tell visitors where they belong and make trespassers obvious to others.
• Territorial Reinforcement. Signs of ownership such as landscaping and porches clearly stake out what is private.
• Maintenance. Signals to everyone that the property is cared for and that someone is likely looking out for the area.

Cornelius Police Sgt. George Brinzey refers to these ideas as target hardening. They make it difficult to commit a crime.

“If you can delay entry to a home for just 4 to 5 minutes,” he said, “a crime can be prevented in 80 percent of cases.” He went on to point out that Cornelius is a very safe town. The range of crime is similar to that in the rest of Mecklenburg County, but in much lower numbers.

It is important to understand that CPTED—and target hardening—are not responses to crime; They are prevention methods. Crime may never strike your home or that of your neighbors, but to increase your chances of remaining crime-free, here are some specific suggestions:

Remove the hiding places around your home.

Cut back high shrubbery to thigh-high. Make sure your home can be easily seen from the street. If you have an option, make sure entry doors are also visible from the street.

“Who’s at the door?” Knowing who’s knocking is a basic rule of crime prevention. (Chip Dawson photo)

Install good lighting.

Install post lighting along the driveway and lighting around the porch and entry doors. Put lights on a motion detector if you don’t want them burning all night.

Can visitors easily find your front door?

I’ve had situations where I’ve walked most of the way around a home I was visiting trying to find the entrance. If walkways, landscaping and lighting all direct visitors to your entry point, they will also flag anybody who might be snooping in other areas.

Consider a fence

Fences are great for defining the public-private boundaries. No need for barbed wire, chain link and sharp pickets. Fences direct people to where they are welcome on your property. A crook might jump a fence, but suspicious neighbors will be tipped off.

Clean, attractive fences say “this is private.” (Chip Dawson photo)

Fix the ‘broken window’

The maintenance element of CPTED has given rise to the “broken windows” concept. Basically, it says that if you let a window stay broken, leave trash or dog poop in a yard, neglect to fix a busted mailbox or leave kids toys strewn about, those are all precursors to crime. Fix the “broken window” and crooks will know that someone is paying attention.

Leave doors closed and locked

One of Sgt. Brinzey’s “hot buttons” is doors left open. Most property crimes, whether in homes or vehicles, are committed when someone opens an unlocked door. Unlocked doors cut that 4- to 5-minute delay in entry down to seconds! Once in, a crook can rummage for some time, looking for the best stuff with no one the wiser to his presence.

Even more vulnerable are the garages, full of goods, that can sit with the doors wide open all weekend. Sgt. Brinzey refers to many garages as “22 by 22 storage lockers.” The result, of course, is that a crook can walk by, check out the goods, grab what he wants and be gone. In the meantime, the vehicle that can no longer be parked in the garage sits on the street, another attractive target for a curious bad guy on foot, on a bike or in a car.

Request a security audit

To better secure your home, request a free security audit from the Cornelius Police Department. An officer will survey your home and property, make suggestions and give you a written report. In many cases, says Sgt. Brinzey, you can get a reduction in your property insurance premium by sending the report to your insurance company. To schedule an audit, call (704) 892-1363.

Report suspicious activity

Finally, call 9-1-1 any time you have concerns or suspicions about crime or the potential for criminal activity, Sgt. Brinzey said. Your call could make all the difference.