Crime Risk Assessment in Residential Buildings: Openings

In recent years the issue of urban security has assumed an increasing importance, showing a transformation whose features help to define specificity of every city. The growth of offenses, the increased crime rates, the growth of the global economic difficulties, lead up to an increase in demand for social security often addressed to the local government aspects having as its object the daily life. Even though security and police resources are the first to be cut back in the shrinking economy, the present turmoil requires even greater concentration of security and law enforcement assets to keep our property, people, and information safe. Given the situation, the need to implement new procedures based on innovative theories requires a different approach to the problem of urban security. In fact, based on a theory called "CPTED" (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), an evaluation method capable to estimate crime risk of the urban district in its entirety has been developing. The risk of crime for a building is related to its vulnerability (i.e. presence of security leaks) and the hazard (i.e. crime rate) in the neighborhood. The method proposed in this study, aims at providing a rational measure for evaluating burglary vulnerability of a building. In this article, an analysis of burglary data, collected by observing selected building parameters, is presented. Openings are the basic element of the evaluation. Their characteristics, but especially their relationship with the surroundings, influence the decision of a burglar in performing a criminal act. Through a preliminary qualitative evaluation based on existing literature, a list of basic indicators has been selected. Statistical approach reveals how some of these indicators have a greater influence than others in the final outcome. An algorithm capable to grade openings first, and buildings then, referring to burglary vulnerability, has been carried out.