ABSTRACT
CONTENTS 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 70 4.2 Theories Relating Crime to Its Environment ......................................... 71
4.2.1 Crime on Public Transport............................................................ 72 4.2.2 Crime Events ................................................................................... 73
4.3 Characteristics of the Study Area ............................................................ 74 4.4 Data ............................................................................................................... 75
4.4.1 Bus Shelter Damage ....................................................................... 75 4.4.2 Census Variables and Geodemographics ................................... 75 4.4.3 Index of Local Conditions ............................................................. 76 4.4.4 Recorded Crime Data..................................................................... 76
4.5 Methodology................................................................................................ 76 4.6 Findings and Discussion ........................................................................... 78 4.7 Conclusions.................................................................................................. 84 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... 85 References ............................................................................................................. 85 Appendices ........................................................................................................... 88
Appendix 4.1 SuperProfile Lifestyle Pen Pictures........................... 88 Appendix 4.2 Resource Target Table for All Shelter Types .......... 90 Appendix 4.3 Bivariate Correlation Results ..................................... 91 Appendix 4.4A Merseyside Shelter Damage Jan-Dec 2000
(Cost per Month) ......................................................... 93 Appendix 4.4B Merseyside Shelter Damage 2000
(Cost per District per Month)..................................... 93
This chapter describes initial efforts to utilize GIS technology to crossreference crime data on one aspect of the public transport journey, bus shelter damage, with information on socio-demographic conditions, land use, and infrastructure, covering the county of Merseyside in the North West of England. GIS are used in conjunction with spatial statistical analysis to explore the nature, manifestation, and patterns of damage to bus shelters. Evidence of clustering is found, and one-fifth of all damage for a year is shown to occur at 2.5% of all bus shelters. The findings also suggest that particular neighborhood types, as well as certain characteristics of sociodemographic and physical environments, are more likely to experience shelter damage than others. This implies that bus shelter damage is related in a systematic and predictable way to known attributes of a shelter’s location. This prompts a discussion of the use of a combination of GIS and other crime-mapping techniques developing our knowledge of the nature and extent of, and the theoretical reasons underlying, crime and disorder on public transport. Public transport crime: what is it, and why does it exist? The police in
the United Kingdom do not record incidents of crime and disorder on public transport systems as a separate category. This might imply that it is an area not worthy of research and further attention. However, recent findings by the then Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR, 1998) suggest that patronage on public transport could be increased by 3% at peak and 10% at off-peak times if fear of crime and disorder on public transport journeys were to be reduced. These findings also highlight the importance of public transport availability as a means of gaining access to health, leisure, and other facilities, and thus in making a contribution to minimize social exclusion. Any attempt to reduce fear of crime on public transport requires a fuller understanding of both the nature and extent of crime and disorder on public transport, and environmental characteristics that may help to explain this crime. These environmental features are likely to include land use, socio-demographic influences, and features of the physical infrastructure, such as the layout of buildings and the spaces between them. The techniques used in this chapter have been applied to other areas of crime research (Johnson et al., 1997; Bowers and Hirschfield, 1999). Here, GIS are used in conjunction with spatial statistical analysis to explore the nature, manifestation, and patterns of crime and disorder on public transport, and, in particular, criminal damage to bus shelters. In an attempt to offer some explanation for the spatial patterns identified, it is necessary to draw upon theoretical perspectives that relate crime in general to its environment. Some relevant theories are now highlighted, before the methodology and findings of this research are discussed in more detail.
