Lesson 7: Crime Prevention

Crime prevention is an elegantly simple and direct approach that protects the potential victim from criminal attack by anticipating the possibility of attack and eliminating or reducing the opportunity for it to occur—and the possibility for personal harm or property loss should it occur. National Crime Prevention Institute

Crime in America is a "boom" industry, one that has flourished over the years, and in though it has had periods of decline n recent years, it continues to prosper. It seems clear that any action that can be taken to prevent a crime is an action that is in the best interests of society. But with the country under siege by crime, drugs, and violence, it is difficult to expect police to be able to focus on preventing the next crime when so many remained unsolved.

Most crimes fall into one of two categories: felonies or misdemeanors. Felonies are a group of offenses considered in most societies serious enough to deserve severe punishment or even death. Although they vary somewhat in their specific names, the major felony crimes are remarkably similar for all jurisdictions. In the US we have come to define most common law crimes as felonies because we inherited many of their designations from the English common law statutes.

The distinction between a felony and a misdemeanor in modern America is generally based either on the type of institution in which the offender would be incarcerated more than one year, to be served in a state prison. This guideline is not universally applied, but serves as good rule of thumb in determining which crimes are generally considered felonies. Most legal agencies tend to lump various kinds of felonies into categories that pertain to the social harm involved: offenses against the person, offenses against property, and offenses against morality and decency.

Four of the eight major or "index" offenses cited in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports are usually crimes against the person. These four crime categories (murder and non-negligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery) are the "headline crimes" that attract the media and create pubic fear, promoting attitudes and support "get tough" laws and more aggressive law enforcement. Despite their shock effect, the four offenses accounted for only 12.5% of the index crimes reported in 1991. The emphasis placed on those crimes is demonstrated by the higher percentage of them that are cleared by arrest. 52.3% of the crimes in these four categories are cleared by arrest, compared with only 18.3% in crimes against property. Murder and non-negligent manslaughter lead with a clearance rate of 68.2%, aggravated assault follows with 60.2%, forcible rape has a 52.5% rate of clearance, and robbery has only a 28.7% rate.

Of the estimated 3.8 million individuals who are under correctional supervision in America each day, the majority are placed there for offenses against property. Even with the low clearance by arrest percentages, the sheer volume of the property crimes tends to keep our prisons full. Reported incidents of burglary, for example, totaled more than 3 million in 1990, and the clearance by arrest rate for burglary was 14.4%. Similar figures apply to both larceny (17.7%) and auto theft (17.2%), with convictions for all three offenses totaling more than 1 million clients for the correctional system.

Crimes that may get even more publicity than murders are those that have a sexual connotation. Child molesters, for example, excite widespread public alarm and high media interest. Such individuals also assume the lowest position in the inmate social system in most prisons. Many of the so-called acts between consenting adults are being removed from the criminal codes, leaving only forcible assaultive sexual predators and assaultive homosexuals to be sent to prison. This aggravates an already growing problem of controlling violent crime—and presents potential litigation problems for security managers.

The impact of crime on the business and institutional sectors has many aspects beyond the obvious. The Hallcrest Report I reported the indirect costs of economic and other crime against business, government, and the public:

Effects on Business

• Increase costs of insurance and security protection

• Costs of internal audit activities to detect crime

• Costs of investigation and prosecution of subjects measured in terms of lost time of security and management personnel

• Reduced profits

• Increased selling prices and weakened competitive standing

• Loss of productivity

• Loss of business reputation

• Deterioration in quality of service

• Threat to the survival of small business

Effects on Government

• Costs of investigation and prosecution of suspects

• Increased costs of prosecuting sophisticated and technology related crimes

• Costs of correctional programs to deal with economic crime offenders

• Costs of crime prevention programs

• Costs of crime reporting and mandated security programs

• Loss of revenue (loss of sales tax and tax deductions allowed businesses for crime-related losses

Effects on the Public

• Increased costs of consumer goods and services to offset crime losses

• Loss of investor equity

• Increased taxes

• Reduced employment due to business failures

NOTE: These effects are concerned only nonviolent business crime, but if the total crime environment of institutions (schools, hospitals, museums, etc.) were also considered, the effects on institutions would include the following:

• Declining enrollment, attendance, or occupancy due to crime-related incidents

• Employee turnover and recruitment costs due to fear of crime incidents

• Increased costs of services

• Increase costs of insurance and security protection

Because of the growing tidal wave of street crime and the failure of reactive policing in recent years, police administrators finally have begun to get law enforcement to explore alliances with private security professionals. This effort will find the community roots of crime and truly to begin to prevent it. It is difficult to get support for an activity that s almost impossible to measure. How do you measure what hasn’t yet or didn’t happen?

Working in the communities as a full partner with other community resources seems to be the wave of the future. Some crimes, however, lend themselves to the most concern by private security agencies. These are the crimes that more directly affect the bottom line. The main offenses and offenders are larceny and theft, burglary, robbery, trespassing, vandalism, arson, white-collar crime and drugs in the workplace.

External and internal larceny and theft, shoplifting, employee pilferage, cargo theft, theft of negotiable documents and cash, illegal use of services where no violence occurs and the item stolen does not belong to the person taking it. Management must help in the crime prevention effort by taking form and decisive action against those who chose to steal from the company or from their fellow employees and are caught.

Physical security is the main crime prevention technique for burglary at a business. Here are some techniques:

• Leave the lights and the radio or television on when you leave the room.

• See that there are good locks and use them.

• Deadbolts are usually provided and should always be used when in the room and when you leave.

• Use the one-way peephole before you let anyone into the room, then open the door while still on the chain.

• Let someone know when you will be gone for a long time so security can check your area.

• Be a good neighbor.

• If you observe anything suspicious, report it to the authorities.

Robbery is a crime that is always just around the corner for any kind of business. This is especially true for financial institutions, or businesses that process a lot of cash. Employees and security staff should follow these rules:

• Activate an alarm, if there is one, and call security or 911.

• Lock all the doors, if possible, so that the robber cannot reenter.

• Without going outside, try to identify the getaway method. If a vehicle, try to get its color, model, and license number, and the direction the robber headed.

• Preserve all evidence, and block off all areas that the robber may have touched.

• Take any victims aside and allow them a chance to recover from the trauma.

• As soon as possible, have the victims fill out a suspect description form.

• Try to get all other witnesses to stay until the police arrive. Ask them each, privately and without talking to the others, to fill out a suspect description form.

Once the police arrive, the security manager should meet with them. After the police arrive, the following procedures should apply:

• Only officials with proper credentials should be allowed to enter the crime scene.

• Employees should not talk to anyone about the details of the robbery, the amount taken, or the security policies of the company.

• Wait until the police have the investigation is under control before you reopen the business or area of the crime.

A trespasser may be trying to find shelter or food, to do drugs, or to commit another crime. Trespassers pose a problem in crime prevention for the security manager, as well as a liability concern. The best way to prevent trespassing is to carefully post the areas that are not to be entered without proper authorization, and include pertinent laws and statutes, with penalties listed.

Trespassers who become enraged over being removed from the property can commit vandalism. After dealing with trespassers, staff should be especially alert for such acts of retribution. A major type of vandalism today is the writing of graffiti o walls, fences, trucks, and signs, and other surfaces. Gang members who generally have no respect for anyone’s property do most of this graffiti. To prevent and discourage this activity, the security manger should work with the local police gang units, and get maintenance to paint over the graffiti as soon as possible after it is discovered.

The crime of assault is often used as the basis for major litigation that asserts assault has occurred, with negligent security as the proximate cause. Many cases of battery or sexual assault occur in unlighted parking lots, or during unescorted trips by staff to the parking garage at night. Although not all such acts can be prevented, especially if they result from spur-of-the-moment decisions by the perpetrator, some crime prevention tactics can be applied to try to:

• Reduce the potential for occurrence

• Train all staff in security awareness and techniques to avoid crime

• Be sure that all areas where clients, customers, visitors, and staff may have to travel are well lighted and in good working order

• Keep all shrubbery areas lighted, trimmed, and free from places where potential assaulters may hide

• Be sure that escort services (grouped or individual) are provided when requested

Assault, whether sexual or physical, is a terrible thing for anyone to experience. Failure to seek out ways to prevent this crime from occurring, or reduce its possibility, is sure to result in litigation. Close coordination with law enforcement crime prevention experts will make the job that much easier for the security manager and develop a sense of concerned teamwork.

An arson fire is one of the most frightening types of crimes. It is reported by the FBI that arson is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States, with 89,912 cases reported I 1990. Crime prevention in the case of arson has a number of aspects for the security manager to consider:

• Keep all outside areas clear of combustible materials, especially those that can be used as igniters.

• Coordinate with human resources to find whether a discharged employee might seek revenge.

• Coordinate with local fire and police agencies to be aware of potential arson activity in the area.

• Conduct arson awareness training to all personnel, and practice fire evacuation regularly.

• See that empty buildings are clean and free of combustibles, and are patrolled regularly.

Drugs in the workplace cost US businesses more that $500 billion yearly from lost time, stolen goods to support habits, industrial insurance, accidents, lost time, low quality products, and many other factors. The only real crime prevention techniques against drugs in the workplace involve good employee screening, awareness training for all staff, policies that provide for severe measures if drug abuse is found, and an employee assistance plan for first timers. Security staff and supervisors must be on the lookout at all times for signs of abuse.

Crime prevention is a law enforcement and private security task whose time has finally come. It has been around for many years, buried n the police departments of America, but often as work for other than "real cops". The crime prevention person of past decades was likely to be a police officer who was disabled or near retirement, or a female employee given the job as a gesture. Considering the magnitude of the crime problem in America, along with the reduced budgets and shrinking police forces, prevention must be given a major role.