Designing a product to be make it more secure doesn’t have to mean fitting locks and chains. Design can sometimes even make a product more secure by means of aesthetics alone.
The theft of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment from schools is widespread and costly. Projectors are especially prone to theft, with one local authority estimating that the cost of replacing projector equipment ran to £200,000 in a single year. The expense is not just attached to buying new equipment. It also covers damage to school property resulting from the theft, insurance claims and disruption to lesson schedules.
A simple solution
After 195 projectors were stolen from London schools in the first three months of 2005 (many sold to pubs and clubs to show football matches and films) the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) proposed a simple and low-cost design solution: all educational equipment could be produced in a bright and distinctive orange colour so as to make it more difficult for criminals to sell on. Potential customers are likely to find the gaudy orange units less desirable, especially if they know it means an
item is school property and has been stolen.
Forming partnerships
Becta worked with representatives from the Home Office, police forces, the Department for Education and Skills, local authorities and equipment manufacturers to generate enthusiasm for the idea. From early 2006 ten manufacturers have been producing orange projectors, combining the colour deterrent with additional security features such as PIN codes and remote control operating devices.
For the idea to be really effective, ICT procurement departments and people in the community all have to be aware of it. Comproom, a school computer room design company, created a series of `Don’t Get Caught Orange Handed’ posters to publicise and explain it. Designed to be memorable to the school pupils who use them and anyone in the local community who visits, they feature cartoons of thieves appearing in court with orange hands, charged, of course, with stealing educational projectors.
The results
According to Becta, the initiative had an immediate and beneficial impact. In the London Borough of Havering, annual ICT thefts from schools had exceeded £150,000 in one year. When the borough introduced orange projectors and linked them with other security measures, such as etched and forensic marking on the equipment, burglary rates fell substantially.