Measure type: Deflection

Deflection is the measure of reducing risk by creating circumstances that direct criminals to less critical objects or redirects the motivational causes into non-criminal means of expression.

Description

A fly drawn in a urinal, a deflection measure to prevent visitors from aiming at other 'targets'

This is the channelling of potentially criminal or aggressive behaviour in more pro-social directions by means of architectural, equipment, and related alterations.

Examples

• Provision of graffiti boards and mural programs where graffiti artist may legally express themselves
• Interesting wallpaper, daily newspaper, chalkboard on bathroom wall
• Providing activity centres, sport halls or skateboard terrains for potentially loitering youth
• Separating incompatible public by designing some areas to appeal to only one group and other areas to the other group

Effectiveness

Security issues where this measure can be effective and influenced by the urban planner, are:

Financial gain	Boredom or compulsive behaviour	Impulse	Conflict in beliefs
Burglary{{#info:Burglary is the crime of illicitly entering a building with the intent to commit an offence, particularly (but not limited to) theft.}}	Physical assault{{#info:Assault, is a crime which involves causing a victim to fear or to experience any type of violence, except for sexual violence}}	Destruction by riots{{#info:Destruction by riots is the act of vandalism of property by organised groups for a shared rational or rationalised reason.}}	Mass killing{{#info:Mass killing is the crime of purposely causing harm or death to a group of (unknown) people in order to make a statement or to influence the public opinion. This threat is exerted out of wilful action by fanatics: terrorists or criminal activists.}}
Ram-raiding{{#info:Ram raid is a particular technique for burglars to gain access to primarily commercial premises, by means of driving -usually stolen- vehicles into locked or closed entrances, exits or windows.}}	Sexual assault{{#info:Sexual assault is assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent}}		Destruction of property by fanatics{{#info:Destruction by fanatics is the crime of purposely causing damage in order to make a statement or to influence the public opinion.}}
Pickpocketing{{#info:Pickpocketing is a form of theft that involves the stealing of valuables from a victim without their noticing the theft at the time. }}	Vandalism{{#info: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.}}
Robbery{{#info:Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. It is used her exclusively for acts committed to individual persons.}}	Graffiti{{#info:Grafitti is the defacement of property by means of writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed on a surface in a public place without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control. }}
Raid{{#info:Raid is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value from a commercial venue by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear.}}	Antisocial Behaviour{{#info:Antisocial behaviour is an accumulation category of relatively small crimes that highly influence the security perception of citizens. }}
Vehicle theft{{#info:Vehicle theft is the crime of theft, or attempt of theft of or from a motor vehicle (automobile, truck, bus, motorcycle, etc.).}}

Considerations

General considerations

As this measure does not actually reduce crime, but rather directs the crime to less critical targets, the measure is best suited for crimes that are (more or less) acceptable in specific places, such as vandalism or graffiti. For more serious crimes that would be unacceptable in any circumstance, this measure is not applicable.

Urban planning considerations

The use of deflection methods encourages responsible use of urban spaces by providing a suitable outlet for activities which would otherwise take place in an anti-social manner. Deflection is becoming an important tool for urban planners, enabling them to facilitate the protection of urban spaces which would otherwise be the target of criminal or anti-social activities. From a planning perspective, it is important to ensure that facilities which are designed to accommodate deflection are seen as a more attractive option than those that would otherwise be used.

Safety/security considerations

Before redirecting crime to another target one should be well aware of the possible consequences for that new target and its surroundings. For example, opening a skateboard park to get rid of loitering youth can cause inconvenience at the skateboard park due to the noise of rolling skateboards, an increase of vandalism in the surroundings or harassments in the bus to and from the skateboard park.

Social considerations

Deflection may result in displacing risk and hazard from one urban area to another. The measure should be assessed in the broader context of the public interest. While the public interest is a question of continuous debate, both in its general principles and case-by-case applications, it requires a conscientiously held view of the policies and actions that best serve the entire community. An important social aspect is the responsiveness of the measure of deflection to citizens' felt security needs. Measures will only be responsive if they are based on identification of citizens’ self-perceptions of vulnerability and resilience as well as their relation to/interaction with resilience-enhancing measures centred on built infrastructure.

Deflecting risk is no substitute for continuously informing citizens of risks, how to assess risks, and how to prepare for risks.

Practical addressing of social aspects and aspects of security culture as they relate to the measure of deflection can best be accomplished by appropriately involving citizens, based on a set of introduced methods of citizen participation as compiled by VITRUV. Ideally, planning for the measure of deflection should include tests of usability in relevant social contexts. A suitable method is for example appreciative planning that helps work out shared and consensual perspectives on security aspects in the urban planning.

Economic considerations

Deflection mitigates the chance of a security threat, but at the same time demands some kind of investment in time, capital and effort by private agents, companies/developers and the public authorities, exacting economic costs. Together these benefits and costs are referred to as economic impact of security measures. The costs of deflection contains the relatively straightforward direct expenditures on capital equipment and operational costs (both temporary and permanent) such as investments and investments in activity centres, sport halls or graffiti boards. In addition, deflection measures generate various types of secondary effects due to its effect on society (e.g. less fear and crime is good for local business and consumer confidence).

Whether the costs are making sense from an economic point of view, depends on many factors, and can be answered by two distinct sets of questions (see also the flow chart of an economic assessment):

1. Are the envisioned measures cost effective from a socio-economic point of view, or are there better alternatives?
2. Which specific agents (individuals, companies, sectors, authorities) are affected by the envisioned measures, and to which extend? How do the envisioned measures alter the behaviour of these agents, and of course the behaviour of criminals/terrorists?

Economic tools can help decision makers to answer these questions and to prevent wasteful expenditures on security (of course in collaboration with insights from criminology, sociology, etc.). In terms of benefit-cost ratio, deflection can be considered as a type of security measure which in a relatively subtle way increases security, in contrast to measures such as security guards, big concrete walls and barb wire that may be pervasive, but can also arouse feelings of fear and anxiety. Hence, deflection is an example of the designing out approach, or as an aspect of sustainable design, which seeks a balanced consideration of social, economic, cultural and environmental aspects in urban design. In general, these measures demand larger investments than traditional security measures, but at the same time they are able to avoid future costs due to the long-term prevention of crime.

Mobility considerations

The road network can be designed in such a way that areas where visiting people or vehicles are not wanted will attract less traffic, for example by making the roads to these areas less attractive (lower speed limit, speed bumps etc.). Or, the other way around, by providing good and easily accessible roads between the origin/destination pairs that have to accommodate a lot of traffic. Also green waves (successive intersections where the green times are tuned such that drivers will experience successive green traffic lights on their route) can be established on these roads, while larger red times on intersections can be used to make other routes less attractive.

Ethics considerations

Deflection may come with ethics issues of distributive justice, such as risks of reifying uneven distribution of security in society. Architectural alterations to support deflection can contribute to selective delivery of security, making some groups of citizens more secure, and other groups of citizens more vulnerable. This may be, for example, the case in a situation where deflection in some area displaces crime to another community. This illustrates the need to provide norms and standards beyond frameworks for built infrastructure

In general, pinpointing specific ethics aspects in resilience-enhancing measures needs to consider, among other things, citizen security cultures and citizens' personal concerns. There are no ethics considerations that can be planned or implemented without prior identification and addressing of citizens' perceptions. To support this, VITRUV offers a commented list of methods to determine ethics aspects in relevant urban planning.

Legal considerations

Major legal aspects of deflection include balancing measures of deflection that may be seen as compulsory to some extent, with freedom to act and other fundamental rights.

VITRUV offers a summary checklist and a list of methods to assess legal aspects in resilience-enhancing urban planning.