Asheville Reporter

The City of Asheville is encouraging residents and business owners to adopt Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) practices to enhance safety and reduce crime. The city's official website provides detailed crime prevention tips under the Services tab.

CPTED aims to lower both actual crimes and the fear of crime by thoughtfully designing spaces. Key strategies include natural surveillance, natural access control, territorial reinforcement, and maintenance.

Traditional crime prevention often involves barriers such as fences. In contrast, CPTED focuses on proactive measures. "Most crime reduction efforts are focused on reactivity, whereas CPTED works to be proactive in reducing crime," the city notes.

Beyond reducing crime, CPTED can improve quality of life, encourage community interactions, increase property values, and enhance public space safety. These benefits arise from a combination of social and physical space management.

Recommendations for natural surveillance include ensuring even lighting without high-contrast areas, keeping windows unobstructed by advertisements or merchandise, trimming hedges below 4 feet, and maintaining tree crowns above 6 feet from the ground. Entryways should allow clear views outside.

For natural access control, wayfinding signage should be clear and legible with accompanying maps. Entrances must be visible and identifiable. Fencing should separate public from private spaces while remaining low or see-through. Vegetation like American Hollies can deter criminals under windows.

Territorial reinforcement involves using landscape features or seating to show ownership of a space. Courtyards in multi-family settings should have direct sightlines from entrances or windows. Secondary building entrances can use unique paving like cobblestone for definition.

Maintenance recommendations include removing graffiti within 24 hours, avoiding long light-colored wall sections that attract graffiti artists, maintaining shrubbery height in residential areas, keeping large unsupervised areas cleanable with easy-to-repair materials like paint, and enforcing parking standards to prevent disarray.

Residents can learn more about CPTED through a self-assessment checklist available online. The Asheville Police Department (APD) offers CPTED surveys and reports upon request. However, property owners may need to complete preliminary tasks before an assessment is conducted.

APD's Community Engagement Unit has certified staff members ready to perform these surveys on a first-come-first-served basis as staffing allows. Requests can be made via email at apdcommunityengagement@ashevillenc.gov or by calling 828-271-6145.