Christchurch to host Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design workshop

16 August 2005

An expert on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles will lead a free workshop in Christchurch from 23 to 24 August at Our City O-Tautahi, corner of Oxford Terrace and Worcester Boulevard.

Inspector Tony Lake has served in the Queensland Police Service for more than 30 years where he introduced CPTED to the Service.

CPTED principles are largely aimed at public spaces on the premise that people’s behaviour within the urban environment, in terms of offending, is influenced by the design of that environment.  It is believed that with better design and layout of urban environments, authorities can help prevent crime in our communities.

Inspector Lake is the director of the International CPTED Association. He received advanced CPTED training through the International Security Management and Crime Prevention Institute, and chaired the organising committee for the sixth and ninth Annual International CPTED conferences in Brisbane in 2001 and 2004.

The workshop runs from 9.30am to 12.30pm for the morning session (talks about some local examples and sets out basic CPTED principles), and 1.30pm to 4.30pm for the afternoon session (goes into more detail) on 23 August at Our City O-Tautahi. Limited places are then available for a bus trip on 24 August, departing from the City Council Civic Offices on Tuam Street at 9.30am, to show people example sites around the central city, suburban and rural areas, and arrive back at the Civic Offices about 2pm.

Inspector Lake is being hosted by the Canterbury Safety Working Committee, a partnership of the Christchurch City Council, Banks Peninsula, Selwyn, Waimakariri and Hurunui district councils, the New Zealand Police, and Neighbourhood Support Canterbury, who joined forces to reduce crime and fear of crime in their areas.

The workshop is being held at a time when the National CPTED guidelines are being prepared by the Ministry of Justice in partnership with Local Government New Zealand and the Wellington City Council for possible adoption nationally.

Top of Page ~ Media Release index