Security issue: Robbery

Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. It is used her exclusively for acts committed to individual persons. For the forceful theft from commercial venues, see raid.

Description

In the context of urban planning, robbery is most relevant if performed in the public space. This form of robbery, called street robbery has the following five characteristics:

• the offender targets a victim;
• the victim is a stranger to the offender;
• the offender attempts or completes a theft of cash or property;
• the offender uses force or the threat of force against the victim; and
• the offence occurs in a public or semi-public place, such as on a street, in an alley, in a parking garage, in a public park, on or near public transportation, or in a shared apartment hallway.

Mark that a robbery need not involve the use of a weapon or injuries of the victim.

Several subtypes of street robbery exist that vary in frequency depending on local circumstances. Among the better known are:

• purse-snatching (referred to as "snatch theft");
  

  Snatch theft, depicted here as done from a motor vehicle
• robbery at automated teller machines;
• robbery of drunken bar patrons; robbery of students (e.g., middle- and high-school students and college students);
• robbery of passengers near public transportation systems; and
• robbery of migrant labourers.

Contributing circumstances

Known circumstances to influence the likelihood or effect of robbery are presented in the table below:

Contributing Circumstance	Influence	Description
Attractive locations for robbery	Increases success rate of robbery	Some locations are by nature particularly suited for robbery, by the fact that they are relatively deserted, lack surveillance, have potential victims and offer many easy exits to flee the crime scene. Examples of such locations include parking lots and garages, parks, fields, playgrounds, and areas near public transportation, and ATMs.
Lack of surveillance.	Decreases risk of detection.	A low level of surveillance, particularly round-the-clock surveillance, decreases the perceived risk of detection for a perpetrator and thereby increases the attractiveness.
Long reaction times or inadequate action of reaction force.	Decreases likelihood of apprehension	Untimely or inappropriate reactions to violence lead to a perception of little control, which will increase perceived risk for the public and decrease perceived risk for the perpetrators.
High levels of robbery in the vicinity.	Increases likelihood of targeting.	The distance to known places where offenders live matters. On average, robbers travel 2,1 km to commit their crimes, and the chance of a neighbourhood to be chosen reduces with every km distance from the offender's home.
High levels of unemployment	Increases likelihood of targetting	High levels of unemployment are correlated with higher levels of property crime .
High expected levels of drug- or alcohol abuse	Reduces inhibitions for crime	The presence of regular abusers of alcohol or drugs has a strong correlation with the occurrence of robbery, often thought to be caused by the need for financing an addiction. Studies show that about 35% of all robbery is committed under the influence of alcohol.
Presence of excitement or distractions		A legitimate distraction enables the robber to gain contact with the victim without causing alarm. Street robbers could perceive people who are distracted (e.g., using a cell phone, drunk, and/or unfamiliar with their surroundings) as easier to approach and overpower. Distracting circumstances such as road works, which require a detour in unfamiliar surroundings, special events or holidays can also provide the distractions that aid robbers.

• Robbery performed in the neighbourhood
• Alcohol
• Distraction
• Presence of valuables
• Presence of black market
• Hiding spots
• Flight paths
• Special circumstances (holidays, road work, etc.)

Socio-economic circumstances

Although there is no real scientific consensus with respect to the causal relationship between the socio-economic background and property crime like robberies, Australian research, for example, illustrates that long term unemployment amongst young male adolescents has a substantial effect on property crime rates.

Enthorf and Spengler(2002) find that planning-intense offences like breaking and entering, robbery and violence respond relatively slow to changes in the socio-economic conditions compared to other types of crime like drug and alcohol abuse and violent crime. According to the authors, this may reflect that in a first response to unfortunate social and economic developments some of the affected might become attracted to alcohol and drug abuse, which in a later phase has to be financed with criminal activities by committing property crimes like breaking and entering.

Impacts

• Psychological distress, including fear, anger and depression
• social effects
• Physical harm
• (Personal) financial loss
• Decrease in perceived security
• Increased personal vulnerability

Economic impact

Robbery leads to considerable costs in both a direct (primary) and a indirect (secondary) way. Direct costs of robbery come in the form of:

• Preventive costs in anticipation of robbery (e.g. security measures, insurance);
• Material and immaterial costs as a consequence of robbery (e.g. physical damage, repairs, medical costs, mental harm); and
• Responsive costs to robbery (e.g. the costs of detection and prevention, persecution, support trial, etc.).

In addition, the secondary economic impact of criminal offences has to be considered. Crime not only leads to financial or physical damage and prevention costs, but also indirectly influences the local/regional and national economy of a country. According to Detotto and Otranto ,“crime acts like a tax on the entire economy: it discourages domestic and foreign direct investments. On a more local and regional level, economists define economic impact on business, property value, tourism and quality of life (social capital).

Measures

Many strategies exist to reduce the risk of street robbery. Of these, most are actions that are taken just before or after specific incidents. These are therefore not suited to be integrated in to the planning of urban environment, as this generally precedes incidents by a long time. Measures that are effective against street robbery and can be taken (or at least influenced) by the urban planner, are:

• Providing safe transportation
• Providing safe routes during construction
• Reducing intoxication in high-risk areas
• Removing hiding spots
• Increasing lighting at high-risk sites
• Surveillance (electronic or other)
• Increasing pedestrian density near risky places
• Installing emergency call stations