Natural Surveillance
Natural Surveillance involves designing windows, lighting and landscaping to improve your ability, and everyone else's ability, to observe what is going on inside and around your business. Through clever design you can not only make your business a less attractive target, you can increase the likelihood of detecting a criminal at work. All the windows are covered with advertisements and products, and thus people passing by the store cannot see what is going on inside. A robbery could happen without anyone from the outside noticing. In this store, the cashier is very visible from outside the store, making her less of an appealing robbery target. The objective is to maximize the number of "eyes" watching over your business. So create a visual connection between the street, the sidewalk, and your business. It is always good to have people around -- so make sure your business is not isolated and that the entry is not at the back on the building.
Elsewhere on this web site we've discussed cameras and how they can be used to watch over potential offenders. It's also possible to have customers, neighbors, passers-by, and other people watch over your business while they're going about their daily activities.
Natural Access Control
Territorial Reinforcement
