Mapping the Fear of Crime:
A micro-approach
Chris Williams
Why bother with Fear of Crime?
• High on the public agenda
• Political battleground
• Battling against the media
The Reassurance Gap
Recorded crime is falling….
..but fear of crime is rising
This leads to the “Reassurance Gap”
Signal Crimes
• An incident that functions as a warning signal
of perceived risk for those who experience it
• Certain criminal and disorderly acts have a
disproportionate impact upon the public’s
sense of security
Why map the fear of crime?
• Pinpointing fear
• Using this knowledge to drive activity
Previous work
Signal Crimes Research
• Highlighted
areas in a locality
• Most often
focused around
shops –
community focal
points
Leeds & Bradford
• Web based
“spray can of
fear”
• Familiarity
breeds fear!
The demand for micro-mapping
• Reassurance policing requires
neighbourhood solutions
• Reducing fear of crime is as important
as reducing crime itself:
– “The Government’s key priorities for 2006‐
09 are to: …continue to develop, evaluate and disseminate good practice on reducing crime and the fear of crime” (Home Office, 2005. Emphasis added) Merton’s Approach
• Piggy back on Smartwater
• Nearly 100% coverage
• A “Census of Fear”
Process
Survey
Mapping
Interpretation
Action
Survey
Analysing the results
• FOC = 3a+2b+1c
x
• Means on ordinal scale?
–An approximation of an interval scale
–Means very close to mode and median
suggesting normal distribution
Mapping
Creating polygons
Total Fear of Crime
Map 1 here
Getting clever
• How can we make sense of this?
• Focus groups
Fear of crime
First map again with comments from
(ahem) focus group
Haydon’s Road
Wandle Bank
Grove Road
The residents say:
“There
were
three
burglaries on Grove
Road in a week. A man
wrote a message on
his
door
to
the
burglars – so now we
all
know
what’s
happening!”
Fear of youth ASB
The residents say:
“Gangs of older kids
hang
around
the
primary
school
and
play football on the
field after school has
finished. They graffiti
the cars too.”
“Kids mess around in
the street on their
way to and from the
school”
Map; explanation of primary school
theory and, ahem, confirmation
by
Routes
to the primary
school
focus group
Drugs
Map; bloke taking methadone
on planter [photo?]
All Saints Road
Hotham Road
Leyton
Road
The residents say:
“There are dealers working
over the river”
“We find syringes in our
drains”
“The chemist has an exchange
and they sit on our planter”
Burglary
All Saints Road
Map; something about
PPO? Wandle Bank
(nicer), pictures? Escape
routes on arrows?
Leyton Road
Action
• Extra patrols on fearful streets
• Worked with primary school to dissuade
pupils from causing nuisance and expupils from hanging around outside
• Met with drug user and convinced him
not to shoot up outside
• ABCs for Grove Road teenagers
• PPO re-arrested and convicted
A toolkit for officers
• What do we need?
¾Survey
¾Simple basic maths
¾Basic mapping software skills
¾Public assistance with the interpretation!
Use the toolkit and go…
Any Questions?
Chris Williams
Safer Merton
chris.williams@merton.gov.uk