Towns and cities can be designed in specific ways to help tackle crime, according to a Garda crime prevention officer.

Some level of crime is inevitable in Irish towns and cities, but experts say there are ways for city planners to reduce crime through design.

Speaking to The Pat Kenny Show, Crime Prevention Officer for Wicklow, Sergeant John Fitzpatrick said the environment of a city or town can affect people's behaviour.

Sergeant Fitzpatrick outlined some key theories mentioned in 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' by journalist Jane Jacobs.

"One is that where people had eyes on the street, and there was a lot of activity and movement, and you had legitimate use of the street, then you're going to have a reduction in crime," he said.

"What you're looking to do, is bringing about the movement of people, legitimate activity into an area, and that then will correspond to the reduced crime."

'Natural surveillance'

Sergeant Fitzpatrick highlighted the importance of good visibility from homes for "natural surveillance".

"People can see what's going on – there's a clear view, and indeed they have a sense of ownership over that area," he said.

"People can see what happening, so there's no hiding space for criminals to lurk.

"If there's antisocial behaviours sometimes, then people are going to be aware and they're going to call that the correct people."

Hiker hand collecting garbage in the grass of the mountain (Antonio Guillem Fernández / Alamy Stock Photo)

'Psychological ownership'

This "natural surveillance" can be compounded by the introduction of green spaces into residential areas, which locals may naturally want to keep litter and vandalism free.

"You want to get people to invest where they have this sense of psychological ownership," Sergeant Fitzpatrick said.

"If they are going through a green area in their community, and they see litter, they feel invested that they will remove the litter.

"If you don't have that connection to this place, and a place is not well maintained, well, then people feel that there isn't anybody looking out.

"They feel that they can engage in whatever activity they want to engage in and that nobody's going to mind."

Lighting

Sergeant Fitzpatrick said "good lighting" is imperative to making locals feel safe in their area.

"People are more likely to engage in legitimate activities, they're going to go about their normal business if there's good lighting," he said.

"Those dark and recessed areas, they're crime attractors or crime generators. There is as more opportunity to work under the cover of darkness, to engage in your nefarious activities, without fear of being seen."

Street lanterns and old statues frame the historical buildings on Charles Bridge at dawn, UNESCO, Prague, Czech Republic ( robertharding / Alamy Stock Photo)

'Capable guardians'

For areas which have struggled with high crime rates, such as the boardwalk on The Liffey, Sergeant Fitzpatrick suggested increasing the amount of "legitimate activity"

"[If] people can go and enjoy it, perhaps run maybe more events and that type of thing, we're going to attract people to it," he said.

"We need what's called 'capable guardians', capable guardians would be ourselves, An Garda Síochána, but other people that might have a vested interest in maintaining the legitimate use of the boardwalk.

"That could be security personnel or people that are trading on the road, and the more you can get that type of activity on an area like the boardwalk, well then again, that's going to decrease the opportunity for those types of crimes."