Security issue: Vandalism

Vandalism is the act of wilful or malicious destruction, injury, disfigurement, or defacement of property without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control. By this definition, this category includes defacement, such as graffiti. However, in order to keep this security issue limited and surveyable, this act is defined as a separate security issue. Also, wilful destruction performed by an 'organised' group for a shared reason is dealt with in the security issue 'destruction by riots'. In the sense we use the term here, it will therefore only include physical damages, excluding defacement, motivated by other than rational reasons.

Description
The stereo type vandal is a young (adolescent) man, in a small unorganised group or alone. In addition to this, youngsters prone to vandalism often appear to have a poor understanding of the impact of their behaviour on others, and are primarily concerned with the consequences of such behaviour for themselves, such as getting caught. In their view, public property in a real sense belongs to no one. Vandalism appears to be useless, but one can better understand the behaviour of a vandal when considering it in the context of adolescence, when peer influence is a particularly powerful motivator. Most delinquent acts are carried out by groups of youths, and vandalism is no exception. Participating in vandalism often helps a youth to maintain or enhance his or her status among peers. This status comes with little risk since there are no winners or losers, in contrast to playing a game or fighting.

Contributing circumstances
Known circumstances to influence the likelihood or effect of vandalism, are presented in the table below:

Social impacts
Known social impacts of vandalism include changing citizens perception of (in)security and fear of crime. This usually happens in a way that has an effect on the gap between "felt" and "factual" security, since individuals tend to make - correct or incorrect - reasoning on societal security as a whole based on immediate environmental clues. This is known as the "broken glass phenomenon".

Economic impact
Vandalism leads to considerable costs in both a direct (primary) and an indirect (secondary) way. The direct economic impact of vandalism are for about 14% the result of preventive measures (security and insurance), and for 75% the result of physical damage and mental harm. The remaining part are costs in response to crime (detection and prevention, enforcement, trial, support). Vandalism is a high-volume crime. In the Netherlands, vandalism and public order offences make up for about 25% of the number of offences committed in 2005. This is a relevant fact for urban planners, since the cost of security measures can be earned back with a reduction of the frequency of acts of vandalism, the economic impact of security measures.

Acts of vandalism do not just create direct costs, but also have a lasting social and economic impact on the entire area (secondary economic impact of crime). Obvious examples of these secondary economic effects are reduced house prices and costs of void properties. Vandalism can make the local environment an unpleasant place to live and work, creating a significant negative impact on real estate value and local business revenues. Crime prone areas with a long-standing reputation for suffering from much crime are subjects of high mobility of residents, vandalism, empty lots and buildings, businesses with extreme security measures, etc. On top of that, vandalism can lead to less public funding by local authorities (in terms of investments in social infrastructure). As a result, "crime-prone areas usually stay that way". The perception of security is a relevant issue in case of frequent vandalism, since signs of broken windows, makeshift security measures around dwellings, blaring alarms and continuous police surveillance do not help to make people feel safe, even though the actual frequency of criminal events has declined. In addition, one could consider the opportunity costs of police and other public services (like health care services for victim support).

In theory, security measures can prevent vandalism, but not without costs. Target hardening, for example, is costly and there is always the risk of crime displacement. With the help of economic tools such as social cost-benefit analysis it is possible to overview the costs and future benefits of security measures in order to decide which types of measures are best suited for a specific urban planning situation.

Mobility impact
Vandalism may hamper mobility and mobility related services. For example, a frequent target of vandalism are bus shelters (e.g. damaged windows). Damaged bus shelters will give an unsafe feeling to bus users while waiting at the bus. This may lead to less people using the bus.

Other examples of vandalism that impact mobility are damaging bicycles (lighting, tyre bending) or cars (tyre punctures, scratches), damaging railway catenary systems, blocking or damaging railways or roads.

Measures against vandalism with a mobility impact are lighting near roads and stations or (camera) surveillance.

Safety impact
Destruction of safety features (such as traffic signs, fencing around dangerous areas or in child-safe playgrounds) can lead to dangerous situations and safety hazards. It can negate the functions of objects, such as providing shelter, lighting or ensuring sanitary conditions. Also, the destruction itself can generate dangerous situations by for instance broken glass, loose nails or splinters wounding people.

Measures
Potential measures that can mitigate the likelihood or impact of vandalism include:


 * [[image:EU-EE-Tallinn-Pirita-Merivälja-bus stop.JPG|thumb|right|300px|Hardened bus stop in Tallinn, built in brick after being vandalised repeatedly]]Target hardening can greatly increase the effort needed to vandalise the object and thereby reduce the attractiveness of an object.
 * Surveillance can be effective to detect crime and if overt, to deter potential criminals by raising the perceived risk of apprehension. It can incur high costs if implemented as dedicated observers, either on location or remote. A more natural form of surveillance is surveillance by the inhabitants (also known as 'natural surveillance'), which can also be effective, provided that the commercial area is inhabited and the inhabitants have a good surveillability.
 * Intervention force is needed to make detection measures, such as alarms or surveillance, effective.
 * Directing traffic flows can be effective in reducing the chance for potential vandals to approach vulnerable areas, reducing the visibility of potential targets to criminals. By providing clear and logical routes through an area, unnecessary passing traffic can be avoided.
 * Target removal By removing particularly vulnerable objects from high-risk locations, vandalism can in some case be effectively reduced.
 * Ownership is an important aspect in the prevention of vandalism by creating a clear distinction between public and private space. By providing a clear distinction between public and private property, unwanted entry is more easily detected and requires a greater mental effort which reduces the number of opportunities for crime.
 * Maintenance and designing for easy maintenance can be used as the removal of a crime motivator, as deterioration can be an incentive to various forms of crime.
 * Removing means can contribute to a more secure environment by making sure any materials that might be helpful for vandals are kept out of reach. An urban planner can contribute by ensuring secure storage places for climbable garbage containers, ladders, tools, etcetera and making sure external electricity outlets can be switched off from the inside, as these can be used by burglars to power their burglary tools.
 * Deflection Wise (1982) suggests that design may be employed to channel attention away from potentially damaging activities, to reduce the effects of natural processes (e.g., erosion, weathering) that vandals may augment, and to eliminate or reduce the type of environmental feedback that may serve to reinforce vandalist behaviour.
 * Consider future sight line impediments: As the landscape matures over time, unintended screens, barriers or hiding places could be created. Therefore, planting in a landscape must take into consideration the growth, final height and habit of the plants.
 * Avoid long stretches of blank walls where the space is located near a public throughway. Where this cannot be avoided access to buildings / blank walls should be made difficult through the planting of trees, bushes or shrubs.