Walk a mile in a person's shoes and you might begin understand what they have been through.

Want to protect your house from the ever effective burglar? You're going to have to put your feet on the windowsill and try to ram open the door lock to understand how to keep yourself safe.

That's what Eric Bean, a former crime prevention officer, does to the chagrin of his wife, Judy-Ann and his children everywhere he goes.

From public toilets to the high-rise office buildings, Mr. Bean is constantly on the lookout for simple design features, which could mean the difference between a safe house or an invasion by a desperate thief.

Rather then dealing with the crime once it has been committed, however, Environmental Design and Crime Prevention focuses on modifying your home or office to stop criminal behaviour before it starts.

In order to do that, Mr. Bean says, the public must be more aware of the need for security in planning their homes or ensuring the one they have is safe.

He said: "If anybody is remodelling their home, make sure to consult a crime prevention officer. The environmental designs, if they have criminal intent, it's a behaviour modifier.

"In the UK or the US there's no government building that's being built, now, without a crime prevention officer.

"Many crime prevention officers work closely with architects. I am big fan of the Police and I believe they are doing the best with what they have.

"Manpower is one problem and as law enforcement they focus on offenders and victims and we needs to start looking more at locations."

For those who already have a house, it can be as simple as making sure the VCR and other valuables are not in plain sight. Or walking around the perimeter of the house and property trying to figure out how you would break into your own house.

Other features a homeowner could add include signs on the property that warn of dogs, if you have them, or 'No Trespassing' to ensure Police have the ability to arrest someone on your property. (see sidebar for more suggestions). These are all solutions that Mr. Bean picked up as a Police officer when he trained in the UK in crime prevention and then in a second course with the Attorney General's office in Florida, USA.

Forty-eight-years-old, Mr. Bean is now the caretaker on Darrell's Island, but his training remains with him which is why he is choosing to speak-out now.

Secure environmental designs are more important now then ever before as the number of violent crimes in Bermuda rises and burglaries continue unabated. Just two weeks ago Police announced that violent crime had reached its highest point in at last eight years.

The figures showed 105 violent crimes took place in the first three months of 2008 — up from 72 for the same period last year and more than at any time since modern Police records begin in 2001.

Gangs were causing some of the robberies, with a group of six men targeting people walking alone at night and stealing jewellery and cell phones.

But burglaries also remained high at 304 from the same period last year of which two thirds were residential, committed by small group of individuals, with one person admitting to 125 burglaries recently.

Warwick and Southampton were burglary hot spots, while electronic items and jewellery are the most likely property to be stolen. At least a quarter of the burglaries were committed when the offender was able to get into the house though an insecure door or window.

One way that all of this crime can, and has to, be fought is on a neighbourhood basis, which is why Mr. Bean believes a Neighbourhood Rejuvenation Fund could help.

He said: "We have a lot of unsolved crimes in that people are reluctant to speak. We have the whole — 'You see but you don't see' attitude.

"That's brought about by a fear of crime. But that can be removed by employing the people and we do that by improving their quality of life.

"They have Neighbourhood Rejuvenation funds in places in the UK and the US. Here parishes can bid from that to make their parish more secure.

"If we have youth centres and parks there is a sense of ownership and a thief will not enter."

The fund would help provide the means, which might altogether stop communities that cannot afford to upgrade their area. Other ideas include speaking with businesses in the area and get their financial backing to make the area safer for everyone and more productive for them.

Unlocked doors and windows never used to be a problem in past years when neighbours were a community and would raise the alarm if they saw something disturbing.

But that sense of community seems to be missing, according to Mr. Bean, and an easy way to help fight crime would be to reintroduce the neighbourhood watch system.

He said: "What we found is that when there is a lot of crime in an area the people pull together. But then life goes back to normal and that's where it creeps back in.

"We need to give merit awards to neighbourhood watch programmes that have helped give information to stop criminals.

"The neighbourhood watch system is still going strong but there are only a handful of them that have an active watch."

But the watch can only be successful if people do not build barricades of hedges around their homes and let others in.

A community officer that is known around the neighbourhood would also help, according to Mr. Bean because then the residents know who to call if they see anything suspicious.

Any community interested in starting their own watch should contact a Crime Prevention Officer who would be able to provide more information.

As the break-ins increase and there's no sign of them relenting, Eric Bean, a former crime prevention officer, gives homeowners ten easy ways to secure their lodgings.

1. Target Hardening — Ensure locks on the windows and doors are secure.

2. Target Removal — If you have a VCR, DVD player, or other valuables in plain sight, move them to a less visible place.

3. Remove the means for crime — do not leave shovels, concrete blocks and other tools outside that could be used to break a window or door.

4. Reduce the pay-off — Make sure your items are 'U' marked, which can be done by the Police, so the criminal cannot try to sell your items.

5. Access Control — Go around your home and see how you could get into a window for example. Think like a thief.

6. Real Setting — Put signs up like 'No Trespassing' or 'No loitering' because these give the Police powers to arrest someone because they are committing an offence.

7. Natural Surveillance — Stand on the road and see if you can see your windows. If you can't neither can your neighbours who might be able to sound the alarm is someone is trying to break-in. Hedges provide good cover for the criminal.

8. Increase the chances of being caught — Hedges that are more than three or four feet high are more likely to hide an offender trying to break into your house. Keep them lower or more sparse so neighbours and you can see through the hedge.

9. Deflecting the Offender — Put up a youth centre or a park will make the area more inviting for the community and less for the criminal.

10. Environmental Design — making sure the house is constructed in a way that gives someone trying to break-in less access.