Watch Dr. Marie Tillyer, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at San Antonio discuss place-based improvements for public safety: Public regulation, private investment, and changes in crime at micro-places across 6 US cities.
Dr. Marie Tillyer, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at San Antonio discussed place-based improvements for public safety: Public regulation, private investment, and changes in crime at micro-places across 6 US cities.
Research on spatiotemporal crime patterns reveals that crime is concentrated at relatively few micro-places (e.g., addresses, intersections, street segments), it tends to be stable over time, and changes at a small proportion of micro-places can have a considerable effect on a city’s overall crime level. These findings have prompted calls for targeted place-based interventions to efficiently allocate scarce prevention resources. This presentation uses data from six unique urban landscapes (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Antonio, and Seattle) to explore spatiotemporal crime patterns. Specifically, we examine the relationship between two mechanisms for place-based improvements – public regulation in the form of municipal code enforcement and private investment in the form of building permits – and changes in crime at street segments over time. The findings highlight how non-criminal justice policies, such as incentivizing targeted private investment and prioritizing code enforcement at crime hot spots, might be strategically implemented to enhance public safety.