Clarifying Responsibility for Crime and Safety Problems:

Who is responsible for what?

Gloria LaycockInstitute of Crime ScienceUniversity College London

Agenda

• What’s the problem?• Responsibility and competency• Roles and responsibilities• Identifying levers • Some examples:

– Car crime– Credit card fraud– Shop theft

• Structural implications

What’s the problem?

• A large retail store has the highest calls for service within all 3 districts of the division

• They refuse to implement cp policies

• The main office and ‘legal’ refuse to let them meet with the local police – bad for their image

• The police say they’d like to take action but the company pays taxes to the city ….

Responsibility

• traditional assumption - the police• In reality -

– local authority– community/partnership groups– commerce– industry– individuals etc

Competency

• Any individual or group with the power to change the situation, eg:– motor manufacturers– shop keepers– head teachers– Government departments– fuel companies– credit card designers etc

The Individual Should:

Take sensible precautions to protect themselves, their families, friends and communities against crime

Not commit offences themselves Not buy stolen goods Ensure that their children are safe and are not

themselves offending Report crimes to the police Support the criminal justice process as victims or

witnesses where appropriate

The Police and Their Partners Should:

Collect accurate information on crime and disorder and share it

Ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to analyse their data and produce evidence-based responses on the basis of it

Target hotspots Monitor the effects of their strategies and modify

them where appropriate Learn to use ‘levers’ to get action from other

agencies and organisations

Industry and Commerce Should:

Design goods, services and policies with ‘crime in mind’ Understand that goods fitting the acronym ‘CRAVED’

will be stolen and need extra protection Resist marketing their goods in ways which risk

drawing young people into crime Take some responsibility for the threat of theft, attack

and other offences being directed at customers Take reasonable measures to protect staff from

victimisation through thoughtful policies, practices and training programmes

Federal, State and Local Governments Should:

... create a context within which we can all take responsibility for crime reduction, as individuals, as members of communities as directors of commerce and industry. This means:

Providing an efficient and effective criminal justice system

Encouraging the reporting of crime and the attendance in court of victims and witnesses

Encouraging us all to take responsibility Ensuring that all those with the competency to

contribute to crime prevention do so

Goldstein’s hierarchy of ways to shift ownership

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Bringing of a civil action

Legislation mandating adoption of prevention

Charging a fee for police service

Withdrawing police service

Public shaming

Pressing for the creation of a new organization to assume ownership

Engaging another existing organization

Targeted confrontational requests

Educational programmes

Straightforward informal requests

Motor Vehicle Theft

Scanning:– High rates of theft of and from cars– Top of the league in international comparisons– Vehicle crime accounts for over 25% of all crimes

reported to the police– Some cars are more popular with thieves than others– Cars had poor security - inadequate locks and no

immobilisers– Requests for improved car security had been ignored– Government advisory board established to make

recommendations: we need a car theft index

Why Did We Need a Car Theft Index?

The government exercised its responsibility to press the car manufacturers into action and acknowledged the need for a lever:

The car manufacturers alone had the competency to redesign the car

The Car Theft Index

• Number of cars stolen of a given type divided by the number on the road

• Complications -– What does type mean?– How will security relate to the car type?– Where can we get accurate data?

Some Techy Bits ...

Deciding how far to break down the car type was a major issue

Outline of the SMMT classification system for motor vehicles

MAKE Ford VauxhallVolkwagen(Approx 70 makes)

MODEL Escort Cavalier Golf(Approx 290 models)

RANGE Escort Mk1 Cavalier Mk1 Golk Mk1(Approx 350 ranges) Escort Mk2 Cavalier Mk2 Golk Mk2

Escort Mk3 Cavalier Mk3 Golk Mk3Escort Mk4

LINE 1987 1392cc Ford Escort GL Plus Mk3(Approx 4,500 Lines) 1984 1608cc Ford Escort GL Diesel Mk3

1981 1598cc Vauxhall Cavalier L Mk21989 1796cc Vauxhall Cavalier GL Mk3

1979 1093cc Volkswagen Golf GL Mk11976 1499cc Volkswagen Golf GLS Mk1

0 500000 1000000 1500000

Vehicle range

Numbers on road

Ford Escort Mk2Ford Cortina Mk5

Ford Sierra MK1

Ford Fiesta Mk1Rover Mini

Ford Fiesta Mk2Vauxhall Cavalier Mk2

Rover Metro Mk1

Ford Escort Mk3

Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders

Top 9 ranges in use at the end of 1989

Theft risks for the top 22 volume car ranges

HIGH RISK

FORD CAPRI FORD FIESTA MK1FORD CORTINA MK4 FORD GRANADA MK2/3FORD CORTINA MK5 VAUXHALL ASTRA MK2FORD ESCORT MK 2

MEDIUM RISK (SELECTED RANGES)BMW 300 SERIES ROVER MAESTROFORD ESCORT MK3 ROVER METROFORD FIESTA MK2 ROVER MINIFORD GRANADA MK4 ROVER MONTEGOFORD ORION MK1 VAUXHALL ASTRA MK1FORD SIERRA MK1 VAUXHALL CAVALIER MK1FORD SIERRA MK2 VAUXHALL CAVALIER MK2

Notes ...

• Car security isn’t the only issue when thieves target vehicles– some cars are more attractive to thieves – older cars are more likely to be parked in high

risk places and owned by poorer people who don’t fit security devices

– some spare parts are more difficult to get than others etc

Effect of the Index (1992)

• The police loved it• The manufacturers took it on the chin• The insurance industry was supportive• The consumer groups were keen• The media picked up on it• It avoided legislation• It was very popular with the politicians

The Effect of the Car Theft Index?

0

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200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

Years

Nu

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Years in which Car Theft Indices published

Credit Card Fraud

• Scanning:– Police report credit cards thefts are significant

• Analysis:– losses rose by 126% between 1988 and 1990 across the

sector• Response:

– Report to financial institutions who worked together– Established Association of Payment Clearing Services– Raise floor limit of transactions– Change method of sending cards to customers

• Assessment:– losses dropped by 41% between 1992 and 1994

Other Card not Application counter- Mail non- Lost & Total present fraud feit receipt stolen

1991 1.6 0.4 2.0 4.6 32.9 124.1 165.61992 1.0 1.3 1.4 8.4 29.6 123.2 165.01993 0.8 1.6 0.9 9.9 18.2 98.5 129.91994 0.5 2.5 0.7 9.6 12.6 71.1 96.91995 0.3 4.6 1.5 7.7 9.1 60.1 83.31996 0.5 6.5 6.7 13.3 10.0 60.0 97.11997 1.2 12.5 11.9 20.3 12.5 66.2 122.0 1998 2.3 13.6 14.5 26.8 12.0 65.8 135.01999 3.0 29.3 11.4 50.3 14.6 79.7 188.32000 6.5 56.8 10.2 102.8 17.3 98.9 292.5

Credit card fraud losses, UK, £ millions

Shop Theft

• Scanning – Shop theft in Oxford Street, London– 40% of shop thieves arrested in one store

• Analysis– Special data collection exercise by store detectives– £100 per thief to process through the CJS– Arrestees mainly juvenile first offenders, UK citizens– Store policy to detect crime rather than prevent it– Reason for high crime rate: irresponsible marketing

Items recovered from thieves

SECTION NUMBER % OFTOTAL

Rock ‘n’ pop 224 31Computer 212 29Soul ‘n’ disco 97 13Reggae 25 3Collections

Remainder (<20items each)

21

147

3

20%

Response

• Recommended response: Move to prevention – adopt the ‘master-bag’ system

• Store said no! • Compromise on the basis of threat:

– Move to prevention– Lower height of displays– Raise checkout platforms – improve sight lines– Employ security guards, not store detectives– Stop selling high risk computer tapes– Tag popular items

Assessment: Average Monthly Arrest Figures

BEFOREINITIATIVE

AFTERINITIATIVE

PERCENTCHANGE

HMV musicshop

113 67 -41

Oxford Streetstores

357 343 -4

Oxford Streetstores lessmusic shops

356 330 -8

Other centralarea

213 195 -8

The earlier example

• Large retail store with too many calls for service, theft by customers and staff, bad checks, theft of and from cars on the lot:

• Recommendations– Better and additional cameras on lot and in store– Greeters at all doors to check customers and look at

receipts– Thumb print on all checks with 2 forms of ID– Large signs with cameras to lot about CCTV presence

• No to all!

So …..

• Advice from Rana:– Tell them the problems: give them the facts– List the best practice responses – quote the POP

guides– Copy to corporate HQ – ideally to the President

personally– Say that the store said that Corporate HQ refused to

let them take preventive measures and ask if that’s true

– Tell them that the press will be interested in their reply

Questions for scanning/response development stages

• Whose problem is this?– Who is the victim?– Who bears the real cost?

• Who has the competency to change the situation?– Are they motivated to do so (eg do they bear the cost

of crime or profit by it?)

• Does leverage need to be applied to get action? If so, what?

• Who can apply that leverage?

Structural Implications

Locally you need

• Good data and sound rationale

• Inter-agency working relationships

• Effective project management

• To identify who has the competency to act

• To make effective use of levers with the support of your local politicians

At Federal and State levels you need

• A structure to ‘hear’ problems

• To identify ‘levers’ at national level

• An environmental scanning facility to respond to problems before they happen

What about academics?

Academics should …..

Work with the police and others to:– Understand the nature of crime

– Develop evidence based policies to prevent and detect crime

– Communicate clearly

– Train analysts– Behave like scientists

A Word About Crime Science

• About reducing crime ethically using the techniques of the scientist:– data – Logic– evidence – rationality– testing hypotheses– Establishing knowledge

• Finding out what works, where and how

Medical Science and Crime Science

S oc io logy C rim ino logy P h ys ics D e sign T ech no lo gy E tc .. .

C r im e S c ien ce

C h em is try B io logy P h ys ics E p ide m io logy B ioch em is try E tc ...

M ed ica l S c ien ce

Future Prospects

• By working together – police and scientists can:– Really understand the nature of crime– Reduce it to the lowest possible level – Make communities safer

• But to do that they need:– To take a problem solving approach– Employ well trained analysts– Use levers