NCJ Number
105410
Date Published
1987
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper considers crime prevention considerations and measures for libraries, museums, public hospitals, parks, and mass transit.
Abstract
All of these public facilities have the common problem of facilitating access for public services while attempting to prevent crime within and against the assets of those facilities. Crime prevention measures for public libraries, notably to counter the theft of books, include staff training, exit guards, turnstiles, special patrons, closed stacks, restricted access, strict registration, building design, circulation systems, badges, moratoriums on fines, and legal action. Electronic security systems have been used since early 1970 and have been successful. Library security measures are also applicable to museums. Museums, however, have a particular need for perimeter and space control. Perimeter devices may include step or pressure mats, foil tape, and magnetic switches. Hospital security measures are a limited number of entrances, emergency doors with alarms to guard headquarters, closed circuit television, illuminated parking areas, and color coded passes for each day of the week. Preventive measures for public parks, notably to deter vandalism, include volunteer hosts for visitor assistance, target hardening, and the use of plainclothes police officers to patrol areas vulnerable to vandalism. Mass transit crime prevention measures are emergency telephones, closed-circuit television monitoring, movable barriers to narrow platform access during periods of low ridership, and monitoring centers. 47 notes and 8-item bibliography.