Personal Safety

You can improve the sense of safety around your home or business by using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).

Look around homes, buildings

Consider how things look around homes or buildings and how it might attract criminal activity or livability issues. By making a few simple changes to your environment, you can lessen the likelihood of harm.

Make changes to the environment 

Use the four principles of environmental design to Increase safety. 

1. Natural surveillance

Maximize visibility by:

• Improving lighting.
• Trimming trees and shrubs to improve visibility.
• Considering removing fences or tall walls that block your view of the street.

2. Territorial reinforcement

Create a strong sense of ownership by:

• Planting grass, flowers or other shrubs and maintaining them.
• Installing paths, fences or short walls to clearly identify the line between your property and public property.

3. Natural access control 

Control the access to a location by:

• Making sure entrances are visible, well-lit and seen by windows.
• Creating clear entryways.
• Using signage to highlight building entrances or paths.
• Using a deadbolt to secure exterior doors.

4. Maintenance 

Limit opportunities for harm by showing you care:

• Repairing visibly broken windows, fences or doors.
• Removing graffiti.
• Trimming shrubs, trees and grass regularly.

History of CPTED

The formal concept of CPTED began in the 1960s and used to positively lower the perception of harm as well as discourage harm that occurs in specific locations.

You use either TriMet buses or MAX to get to/from work. You have seen or heard about crime on TriMet but think it couldn't happen to you because nothing has happened yet. However, there are thieves who target people specifically on TriMet because the victim is often not paying attention to her surroundings or has fallen asleep during a long commute. 

What you should do

Tips to ensure your safety and security on buses and MAX:

• If you ride a bike then transfer to a bus, sit with a view of the bike on the rack.
• If you transfer to MAX, consider locking your bike to the rack, or sit close to and with a view of the bike.
• Several thefts happen when thieves see someone hang a bike on the rack and walk to a different area.
• Several thefts of smartphones or tablets occur each week throughout the Metro area on the TriMet system. These often occur when the doors are closing on the MAX, or close to the rear exit door on the buses. If you are going to use a phone or tablet to occupy your commute time attempt to be aware of your surroundings. When the bus or MAX comes to a stop, put your device away or keep it hidden from view.
• When the bus or MAX begins slowing down, take a quick second to glance around at the people around you to see if they are paying too much attention to you. 
• When you notice a large group of people being loud and disruptive don’t draw attention to yourself by attempting to address the issue. There have been several occurrences of assaults on those attempting to get the group to quiet down.
• Causing a disturbance, even verbally, on TriMet is a crime. Call 911 and allow police to deal with the problem.
• If you are a witness to a crime and have the time to wait for police arrival that is the best action, if you cannot wait, please leave your information with a TriMet employee or victim so you can be contacted. 
  If you leave, try to write down as much information about what took place so when you are contacted it is easier to recall.
• Remember, all buses and MAX have video; some now have audio. Everything is recorded and can be watched if the police are aware of any problems or crime that has happened along the TriMet system.
• It is a felony under Oregon law to assault a TriMet operator or vandalize TriMet property. TriMet offers a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of any person who assaults a TriMet employee or vandalizes TriMet property.