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Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a crime prevention
strategy which demonstrates how physical environments can be designed for crime
prevention by reducing the opportunities for crime. The CPTED recommends
environmental design as an effective crime prevention method, as crimes are being
created according to the opportunity based on particular environmental factor.
CPTED strategies allow for the most productive use of space while reducing the
opportunities of crimes. The main objective of the study was to investigate the
applicability of CPTED strategies in Sri Lanka. Data were gathered through the
natural observation and semi structured interviews. Fifty (50) police officers were
randomly selected as the sample from both Colombo and Galle Districts while
doing the natural observation of the physical environment of the main cities of two
districts. Collected data were analyzed using elementary statistics. Observation
revealed that 1) Domestic 2) Educational institutes 3) Commercial Institutes 4)
Other government institutes and 5) Common places as major space structures which
used CPTED strategic procedures. CPTED is being used for crime prevention more
in the institutions related to private sector of all above categories than the
institutions related to the government sector. Majority of the strategies being used
by government places have not developed according to the modem CPTED
strategies. Most of the police officers are not aware of CPTED and its applicability
by the particular name. Night petrol sessions and Crime maps are being used by the
police as CPTED strategies. High costs, lack of current knowledge, lack of
congeniality of the neighbors, lack of maintenance were traced as the problems
affecting the application of CPTED strategies for crime prevention in Sri Lanka.
