It's easy to hide when it's dark everywhere, said Reverend Carey, standing on a dark street in Oakland, California. Crime, he said, can't be prevented when people can't see the criminals.
The debate on whether or not a lighted street at night reduces crime has flared anew, as frightened residents across the country have flooded local city councils with requests for more streetlights on city streets.
Research has indicated that more streetlights reduces crime.
Streetlights act as a natural deterrent and watchman, insisted Brandon Welsh, a professor of criminology at Northwestern University. Studies show that streetlights will reduce crime by 20 percent and more at night. These streetlights also give residents a feeling of ownership over their neighborhoods and a sense of pride, Welsh said.
However, tough budget times have cities scrambling to cut costs, and turning off street lights is one solution. This action has placed city councils in direct conflict with chiefs of police who insist that more light means less crime.
For example, Oakland has seen a large increase in murders this year. So far, 85 people have been murdered in the city this year. That's up 25 percent from the previous year.
The previous Oakland police chief requested more streetlights in the high-crime areas of Oakland. That lighting helped in reducing crime. The chief said that when criminals want to commit a crime, they want to do it in darkness.
Because of the increased crime, the reverend has organized neighborhood watch groups to guard their neighborhoods. To do that, though, requires more light, the reverend said. People can't report criminals if you can't see their faces, he added.
The increased crime that Oakland is experiencing is replicated in other cities across the United States.
The equation is simple: More lights mean less crime, according to an analysis published by the Campbell Collaboration.
The review by Campbell looked at 13 different studies of street lighting in the United States and England and found that improved street lighting cut crime by 21 percent, as compared to areas where street lighting wasn't improved.
Street lighting was more effective in England, where crime fell by 38 percent. The drop in crime in The United States was 7 percent, although the studies used by Campbell were much older than those from England.
The Campbell study surmised that better street lighting also increased community pride. This community pride generated neighborhood solidarity that established an "informal social control" to reduce crime.
Peter Wendt is a writer and researcher living in Austin, Texas. Over the years he has become an authority on electrician Austin TX. If you would like to learn more about this subject, then the author recommends a visit to Quantum-electric.com.
