Valleywide : Making Buildings More Crime-Resistant

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted to appropriate $25,000 to print booklets containing recommendations for builders and architects on how to design buildings that are more crime-resistant.

Some of the ideas include installing bright lighting, trimming back landscaping, and building fences around houses and apartment complexes.

“As the city of Los Angeles addresses crime, we must look beyond traditional methods of policing and examine all possible ways to enhance public safety,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who has spearheaded the drive for crime-resistant building design.

“We need to look for creative ways to stop crime on the front end to prevent crime from occurring and reduce the need to solve our crime problems by adding more officers,” Chick said in a prepared statement.

Once they are completed, the booklets will be made available at the city planning department’s public counters.

City planners will also explain the new building guidelines in meetings with major groups involved in designing residential and commercial buildings. In addition, planning staff members who review development projects will receive training in these building design concepts.

“The intent of the guidelines is not to mandate changes in every project, but to increase the awareness and utilization of these ideas in the design of new projects,” Chick said.

The guidelines were put together by a city task force including the planning department, Los Angeles Police Department and other agencies.