Pair cameras and access control with CPTED: control access, create sight lines and show ownership first

A DOJ COPS Office guide describes Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design as asking why a location creates opportunities for crime, then using the environment to control access, provide opportunities to see and be seen, and define ownership. It treats locks, alarms, cameras and guards as support for design rather than the primary means.

Source facts

The Justice Department’s COPS Office guide to using CPTED in problem-solving, published in August 2007 as guide 8 in its Problem-Solving Tools Series, describes CPTED as an approach that asks what it is about a location that places people at risk or creates opportunities for crime. It says CPTED uses elements of the environment to control access, provide opportunities to see and be seen, and define ownership and encourage the maintenance of territory.

Access control examples include fences, hedges or berms defining site boundaries, paths guiding movement, gates and doors limiting entry points, and signs identifying intended users. Opportunities to see and be seen come from lighting, windows, building orientation and plant selection with regular maintenance so lighting and landscaping do not conflict, but the guide says these features need observers who actually look for and report unusual behavior.

The guide says CPTED focuses on design rather than target hardening, with design features supported by locks, alarms, CCTV or guards when circumstances require them, and it follows the scanning, analysis, response and assessment process. Its examples include trimming hedges and adding lighting, with motion detection lighting, to stop graffiti on a hidden wall, and fencing off a dark drive-through area where robbers hid near an ATM.

Applicability

Use this for planning security at buildings, parking areas and campuses. The guide dates from 2007 and its opinions are the author’s rather than an official Justice Department position; local codes, accessibility and fire egress rules still govern design changes.

DSE recommendation

DSE recommends starting every site security design with a CPTED walk that asks why incidents happen where they do, before adding cameras, locks or alarms. Map hidden corners, dark paths and overgrown landscaping, fix lighting and sight lines first, place cameras where someone is expected to watch and respond, and assign an owner for landscaping and lighting maintenance.

Verification

Walk the site by day and at night after changes, compare incident reports before and after, and check each quarter that landscaping and lighting still preserve the planned sight lines.

Official reference

U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office — Using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design in Problem-Solving (Problem-Solving Tools Series No. 8, August 2007). Reviewed October 18, 2026.