NCJ Number
135924
Date Published
1991
Length
83 pages
Annotation
This handbook on transport-related crime is intended to be of value to primary and secondary school teachers, town councils, planning authorities, sporting venue managers, and public and private transport companies.
Abstract
Crime committed on or near transport runs the range from petty theft and graffiti to rape, murder, and hijacking. If a locality is constructing a new rail system, it is easier to design an effective prevention model. For example, Hong Kong's design includes stations with few entrances so that a station can easily be closed down to capture an offender, escalators that place passengers at the end of platforms to encourage a wider distribution of people, trains with a straight-through format that allows a view of the interior of all cars, and a high-tech communications system. In buses and bus shelters, many measures can be employed to harden targets. Installing safes on New York City buses and the use of flat fares, for example, have almost totally eliminated bus driver robberies. Unlike trains and buses, taxis are not public transport. Since crime prevention costs must be incurred by the individual or private taxi business, crime prevention is more difficult. Further, the problem is exacerbated by cultural factors; what works in one country, such as screens, may not be acceptable in another cultural setting. For aircraft and airports, staff communication, training, and security screening are often inadequate. In addition, existing detection equipment is often not sophisticated enough to meet technological innovations of the weapon and explosive industries. In general, situational transport crime prevention has four stages: analyzing conditions that facilitate crime, studying possible ways of blocking crime opportunities, implementing the most promising and practical measures that will permit evaluation, and disseminating evaluation results. 99 references, 3 tables, 6 figures, and 10 illustrations