Abstract

Crime is a negative phenomenon that has a devastating effect on society and the quality of life
therein. It is a known fact that for most countries, the largest expenditure of the government is on the
prevention and response capacity to the occurrence of crime. Security management is one of the effective
ways to prevent crime, and a good security management system has the potential to bring down the costs
associated with crime prevention. It is in this regard that this paper investigates the reality of crime and
the factors responsible for the occurrence of crime. The major contribution of this paper is in the analysis
of security management as a tool for the prevention of crime. The analysis presents the types of
techniques used in security management useful in crime prevention, with special emphasis on space
syntax analysis and how it can be used by architects to produce building, and neighborhood designs
which efficient and cost-effective in the management of crime. It is a fact that geographic location affects
how well a security management technique will work; it is in this regard that this paper also investigates
security management in rural and urban settings; the investigation culminates with the role of the space
syntax of a built environment plays in security management.