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Impact of a crime prevention ordinance for small retail establishments
Author(s) -
Davis Jonathan,
Casteel Carri,
Menéndez Cammie C.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.23239
Subject(s) - medicine , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , environmental health , confidence interval , suicide prevention , poison control , crime rate , crime prevention , human factors and ergonomics , criminology , psychology , pathology
Background Ordinances requiring the implementation of robbery prevention measures have been enacted at the city level in many jurisdictions. We evaluated the impact of an ordinance requiring crime prevention measures on subsequent crime rates. Methods Crime reports for robbery and aggravated assault from January 2006 through December 2015 were linked to randomly‐selected convenience stores and small retail grocers in Houston ( n = 293). Store characteristics and compliance with a list of safety measures were collected by surveyors in 2011. Generalized linear mixed models were used to compare rates of crime before and after the implementation of the ordinance. Results Robberies decreased significantly after the ordinance went into effect (rate ratio = 0.38; 95% confidence interval 0.29–0.51). No individual safety measure was associated with decreased robbery rates. No similar decrease was observed for aggravated assault. Conclusions City ordinances mandating crime prevention measures can be effective. We could not parse out the effectiveness of individual elements, suggesting a comprehensive approach may be more effective.