Outdoor Lighting and Crime - Amper

Log 10 (ILLUMINANCE, lux)
FIGURE 16. DRUGS CRIME AND LIGHT IN RUSSELL STREET
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0 100 200 300 400 500
RUSSELL STREET NUMBER
Figure 16. Arithmetic means of east and west footpath horizontal plane illuminances for
street numbers along Russell Street, Melbourne, at night in July 2002. The vertical scale is
logarithmic. The triangle symbols show the street numbers recorded by police in serious drug
offence cases for the year 2000 (redrawn from Figure 7.10b in DCPC 2001). The peak near
number 130 is from the intensely lit awning of a motion picture theatre, but two-thirds of
those lights are switched off after midnight. The intersection with Bourke Street is between
numbers 147 and 152. The elevated light levels between 153 and 233 are from several
sources of light in the vicinity, including amusement parlour lighting, advertising signs and ad
hoc footpath lighting presumably intended to deter crime. The lighting peaks at about 75, 235
and 333 are near the intersections with Collins Street, Lonsdale Street and Latrobe Street
respectively. From 240 onwards the frontages are predominantly building sites and large
buildings that are closed at night or unoccupied. Extensive graffiti was noticed on a shop
window shutter lit to 11 lux (vertical) in the cross street (Victoria Street) beyond number 380.
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