4. Reducing Theft from Shopping Bags in City Center Markets

Abstract

EDITOR'S NOTE: This case study first appeared in a Tavistock Institute of HumanRelations' publication (Poyner and Webb, 1987a) and has been edited by the authors for inclusion in this volume. It developed from an earlier study of street attacks (violent and sexual assaults, robbery and thefts from the person) in Birmingham and Coventry, two large cities in England, which found that many of these incidents were thefts from shopping bags occurring at markets in the city center (Poyner, 1981). Because of their concentration in the central part of the city, with excellent rail and bus connections, these markets attracted thieves like bees to a honey pot. Conditions at the markets also facilitated theft. In the covered markets the lighting was so poor and the shoppers so close-pressed by the arrangement of stalls that it was easy for thieves to remove purses from shopping bags without being noticed. According to the evidence of the case study, the installation of improved lighting (to enhance natural surveillance) and the widening of spaces between stalls (deflecting offenders) in the worst affected markets substantially reduced these thefts. There seems also to have been some diffusion of benefits in that thefts in nearby markets also declined, perhaps because: The general attractiveness of this area for thieves has reduced. Finally, a