58 • HARDWARE&SECURITY
Do you know
a DOCO?
» » DESIGNING OUT CRIME
Officers (DOCOs), work closely
with architects, developers and
local authority planners on new-
build developments and major
refurbishments to design out crime
at the drawing board stage. In this
exclusive collaboration between
Secured by Design and Warrior
Doors, The Locksmith Journal
presents the who, what, when,
where, why and how of DOCOs…
1. A BLUEPRINT FOR SECURITY
Secured by Design (SBD)
is the national police crime
prevention initiative, that seeks
to achieve sustainable reductions
in crime to help people live
and work in a safer society.
We work in partnership with
national and local government,
British and European standards
authorities, trade associations,
the construction industry,
manufacturers and many other
organisations to reduce crime and
the fear of crime by incorporating
proven crime prevention
techniques into the built
environment. Our work in local
communities is carried out by a
network of more than 200 SBD-
trained police officers and staff in
Police Forces across the country;
known principally as Designing
Out Crime Officers (DOCOs).
2. ACCEPTABLE IN
THE EIGHTIES
SBD was created in 1989
following the housing boom of the
1960s-1980s when there was a huge
and urgent demand for housing.
Estates were built quickly and often
cheaply with little consideration
given to security. Escape routes were
everywhere, anonymity was absolute
and crime increased, particularly
burglary. In response, the Police
set up SBD to incorporate crime
prevention into new developments.
Today the DOCOs that we train work
closely with architects, developers
and local authority planners on
new-build developments and major
refurbishments to design out crime
at the drawing board stage. We work
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL.CO.UK | JUL/AUG 2018
Sponsored by APECS
across a range of building sectors
including housing, commercial,
retail, mixed use, transport, health,
education, sport, leisure and many
others.
3. WINDOWS (AND DOORS,
AND LOCKS) OF OPPORTUNITY
In addition, we seek to improve
the physical security of buildings,
by awarding our Police Preferred
Specification to products, such
as doors, windows and locks that
are sufficiently robust to resist
physical attack by casual and
opportunistic burglars. To obtain
this accreditation, products have
to be certified by an independent,
third-party UK Accreditation
Service (UKAS) certification
authority. This standard involves
initial testing of products, regular
re-testing and production audits to
ensure standards are maintained
over time as opposed to being
tested only once. Our accreditation
ensures compliance with the
Building Regulations – Approved
Document Q (Security), which
became effective in England in
October 2015.