TOLEDO, Ohio — Are the design and landscape of your home abetting criminality? A Toledo police officer explained how something as simple as trimmed foliage can keep prospective criminals away from your house.
TPD officer James Below is certified in CPTED: crime prevention through environmental design. He offers tips and ideas for how you can design your home with crime prevention in mind and ultimately reduce the likelihood of a break-in.
“You have your trees: you want to make sure your trees are trimmed up to at least six to seven feet high from the bottom down, and shrubs should be trimmed down,” Below said. “[Shrubs] should not be higher than three feet.”
Below explained properly manicured trees and shrubs are important because they limit the opportunity for prospective criminals to hide behind plants, giving them the chance to break into your home.
CPTED goes beyond trimming trees and other landscaping projects; it’s also about where you place items, like trashcans, outside your home. Below said residents should avoid placing trash bins outside because someone could use them as step ladders to break in.
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Protecting your home from intruders can be done with proper maintenance, Below claimed. He also said he would like to see more involvement from the community in these crime prevention efforts.
“Without the community doing their part, property owners, people that owned property like businesses – all of them. I drove around the city and these property owners can do a better job themselves,” Below said.
Another tip office Below shared: to protect your home and the family who lives in it even further, plant a shrub with thorns next to a window to help steer away criminals from trying to break in.
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