Crime Prevention Unit

Carpark+ Safer Parking

• What is Carpark+ Safer Parking Initiative?
• The Carpark+ Process – How will it work?
• The Carpark+ Safety Manual and CPTED Principles
• Overseas Examples of this Initiative
• The New Zealand Vehicle Crime Reduction Programme
• Useful Links

What is Carpark+ Safer Parking Initiative?

Justice Minister Annette King launched the CARPARK+ Safer Parking Scheme on 2 October 2008.

CARPARK+ aims to provide guidance and incentives to owners, operators, and developers of new and existing parking facilities to establish and maintain a safe and secure parking environment.

This will be done by applying the principles of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). CPTED recognises the importance of adequate levels of surveillance, adherence to recommended lighting levels, appropriate security options, vehicle access options and effective management systems.

CARPARK+ will provide a practical tool for reducing both crime and fear of crime in car parks, and will encourage improvements in parking facilities.

This pilot is being led by the Crime Prevention Unit (Ministry of Justice) working in conjunction with Auckland City Council, Waitakere City Council and Hutt City Council. These sites will be supported by local Police. The pilot will run for a 12 month period from 2 October 2008 until 2 October 2009.

The pilot will be evaluated by the Ministry's Research and Evaluation Unit over this 12 month period. The results of this evaluation will inform decisions at the conclusion of the pilot on the feasibility of this initiative being rolled out nationally.

Benefits to Owners and Operators:

• Belonging to a government backed scheme to reduce crime and improve public service.
• Owners and operators will be seen to be making a commitment to their customers that they are providing a high quality parking facility that is perceived as safe and has measures in place to reduce the level of crime.
• Holding a prestigious award that benchmarks the parking facilitiy as having measures in place to reduce crime and the fear of crime.
• As the scheme gains public awareness, this may mean motorists look for car parks awarded this standard when selecting where to park.

The Carpark+ Process — How will it work?

Multi agency groups will assess car park facilities for safety, by applying the principles highlighted in the CARPARK+ Safety Manual. These groups will make recommendations for a safety standard, or outline improvements needed to qualify for the standard. Facilities that utilise vehicle crime reducing activity will be awarded with a 'safer parking' status.

During the 12 month pilot the three councils involved have pre-selected specific public car parks for assessment and potential upgrade to qualify for the safety standard.

For further information on the process, refer to the Carpark+ Safety Manual that outlines the process that is being piloted.

The Carpark+ Safety Manual and CPTED Principles

The Carpark+ Safety Manual was compiled by Safer Auckland City (SAC) from the Auckland City Council. The safety features for this initiative have been developed using Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, which focus on reducing the opportunities for crimes to be committed.

CPTED recognises, amongst other things, the importance of adequate levels of surveillance, adherence to recommended lighting levels, appropriate security options and vehicle access options. This is intended to promote a safer and more secure car park environment, to encourage safe public use and restrict opportunities for crimes to be committed and / or accidents to occur.

The four key principals employed in the Carpark+ Safety Manual are CPTED based. These principles are:

1. surveillance: includes features such as the car park layout and design, lighting levels, technical supervision and vegetation maintenance.
2. access control: includes making the number of entry and exit points to and from car parks clearly visible and easily accessible, keeping entry and exit points to a minimum and designing a vehicle access system to clearly delineate vehicle and pedestrian routes.
3. territorial reinforcement: uses boundary markers to communicate to people where they should and should not be and what activities or actions are appropriate for an area.
4. space and activity management to create quality environments, includes vandalism eradication policies, vegetation maintenance policies and management policies.

The manual and assessment booklets outline the standards and processes for CARPARK+ safety process. The scheme is under development and will not be available to the public to apply for assessment until after the pilot period concluding in October 2009. However, the booklets can be used as indications of the safety standards that will form the basis of CARPARK+ safety requirements.

The CARPARK+ SAFER PARKING booklets are available in PDF format from the Auckland City Council website: http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/auckland/introduction/safer/parksafe/index.asp

Overseas Examples of this Initiative

This idea of having set standards in car parking facilities is not new and there are variations of this scheme in other countries.

Park Mark — United Kingdom

Park Mark was designed to create a benchmark standard for all parking areas across the United Kingdom with regards to security for both the public and their vehicles. Safer parking status is awarded to parking facilities that have met the requirements of a risk assessment conducted by the Police. These requirements mean that the parking operator has put in place measures that help deter criminal activity and anti social behaviour, thereby doing everything they can to prevent crime and reduce the fear of crime in their parking facility.

European Standard Parking Award

The European Parking Association has instituted a European Standard for safety and customer friendliness in car parks. This award promotes and recognises excellence in car parking operations. The standard contains guidelines and a score sheet for lighting and reflective surfaces, vehicular entry and exit points, parking areas, pedestrian routes, lifts, stairwells, security and maintenance. The standard can be obtained by car park owned or operated and that gain a required minimum of points on the score sheet.

Safe City Car Parks Melbourne

The city of Melbourne established a Safe City Car Parks Accreditation Scheme in June 2000 aiming to raise the standard of safety in car parks and recognise and reward car park managers for best practise and improvements in safety and security. Car parks are given a star rating to reflect their level of safety and security.

Parking Facility Standards Award Canada

The goals of this programme launched in Canada are to enhance the image of parking providers, to change the perceptions of customers to recognise the value that quality facilities provide and to contribute to the economic vitality of the community. This programme has been structured to help parking facility owners reach acceptable standards in the areas of lighting, signage, security, enforcement, staffing and maintenance.

The New Zealand Vehicle Crime Reduction Programme

The Carpark+ initiative is contained in a programme of work developed by the Ministry of Justice's Crime Prevention Unit (CPU), with New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Transport. This programme aims to reduce vehicle crime — the Vehicle Crime Reduction Programme (VCRP) and was launched in 2005. Reducing vehicle crime in New Zealand is a priority goal for the government.

Vehicle crime — theft of and from cars — is a significant problem in New Zealand. In 2007 there were 66,796 recorded thefts of and from cars. This was 16% of total recorded crime, which makes it New Zealand's second highest offence category after dishonesty. Also, the International Crime Victim Survey (2007) has ranked New Zealand as the country with the highest thefts from cars in the world.

Vehicle crime represents both a significant financial and safety cost to individuals and society. The Insurance Council of New Zealand estimates that vehicle crime costs New Zealand $60m annually.

This programme is designed to reduce opportunistic and professional vehicle crime, through improved vehicle security, safer car parks and the improved collection of vehicle theft data. The programme was developed by examining New Zealand's vehicle crime problem, assessing international initiatives and consulting with industry, international agencies, practitioners and academics.

For further information contact:

Useful Links

National Guidelines for Crime Prevention through Environmental Design in New Zealand
http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/2005/cpted-part-1/index.html

The Carpark+ Safety Manual
http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/auckland/introduction/safer/parksafe/index.asp

www.aucklandcity.govt.nz

CARPARK+ Safer Parking pilot programme launched – Minister King's Press Release
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/carpark+safer+parking+pilot+programme+launched

Waitakere City Council
http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/

Hutt City Council
http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/

New Zealand Parking Association
http://www.nzparking.com/

Park Mark
www.parkmark.co.uk

Safe City Car Parks Accreditation Scheme Melbourne
http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au