Residential property and break-ins Exploring realtors and residents' perception of crime prevention through environmental design

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine realtors and residents' perceptions of the effectiveness of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) in reducing night-time and daytime break-ins in residential estate. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted case study methods. Two residential estates (one at inner and the other at outer city) were selected as cases of the study. Data were collected from two sets of respondents: realtors and tenants. In the realtors' cluster, all real estate and property development companies were sampled since the population is very small. Systematic sampling technique was used to select residents. Respondents were asked to answer closed-ended questions on socio-economic and demographic characteristics, perception of property crime, spending on CPTED and effectiveness of CPTED. Data were analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings Findings disclose that more than half of the residents of inner and outer city had been victims of housebreaks and these incidences are expected to increase in the nearest future. To reduce break-ins, findings show that realtors and residents have spent on both formal and informal surveillance with emphasis on ensuring visual control over premises. Furthermore, respondents confirm the effectiveness of CPTED in deterring break-ins. The study establishes variation in the realtors and tenants' perception of break-ins as spending on CPTED strategies vary between them, with locations and types of properties. Practical implications Social and human factors remain very important as far as the prevention of break-ins is concerned. These should be taken into considerations when improving CPTED approach in the future. Besides, adequate attentions should be given to daytime break-in. Nonetheless, night-time break-ins should not be neglected. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the importance of visible, clean and well-lit premises as ways of reducing break-ins. It is therefore suggested that residential properties should be well lit at nights, while CCTV and security personnel be positioned in strategic places and within security viewing range so as to send fast alerts to the nearest police stations in the cases of break-in(s). Originality/value Very few studies on effectiveness of CPTED have mainly concentrated on how CPTED works in residential estates. No study till date, have explored how realtors perceive CPTED in preventing break-ins. Besides, this study contributes to existing literature having revealed variation in the realtors and tenants' spending on CPTED on the basis of property location and types of residential properties.