Outdoor Lighting and Crime - Amper

Secondly, the causal direction could conceivably be the other way: ‘Does crime reliably cause
lighting or not, and if it does, is the effect positive or negative?’ Even though this might seem
nonsensical at first sight, there is ample common experience to indicate that there is indeed an
effect and that its net effect is positive. For example, consider a break-in at a house. The
experience may motivate the victim to fit extra or better locks and to change the lighting
arrangements. New or increased ‘security’ lighting would be a typical outcome, either allnight
or movement-triggered. Thus, crime has led to, or ‘caused,’ lighting or more lighting as
a reaction. At present, it would be rare for the response to be reduction or removal of lighting,
so the overall effect is strongly positive in the case of burglary. But vandalism of outdoor
lighting and parts of the electricity distribution system can and does directly cause darkness or
at least dimness over areas ranging from a single streetlamp coverage to city and regional
areas. Intentional disabling of lighting to hide a criminal act is also known, along with the use
of light to facilitate crime. 45 Thus, crime does cause lighting in both the positive and negative
senses. The net effect appears to be positive, in that lighting installed as a reaction to crime
appears to exceed the amount of lighting disabled by vandalism, especially when durations of
normal operation and disrupted operation are included.
The third possibility is a combination of this ‘crime affecting lighting’ effect with its more
conventional inverse, ‘lighting affecting crime.’ Observations support the proposition that the
relationship is bi-directionally causal. This relationship is included in the following
description of a hypothetical often-cyclic process that necessarily involves commerce.
4.4.2 Lighting, commerce and crime processes – a new hypothesis
Suppose that an urban centre of any scale has an incidence of crime sufficient to cause public
disquiet. Especially as elections approach, politicians promise action such as more police,
homeless youth outreach and so on. Often the list will include ‘improved’ outdoor lighting,
one of the less expensive and more obvious ways for politicians to be seen to be doing
something about crime. Increased lighting is provided in due course, probably both as a
reaction to actual crime and as a pro-active attempt to reduce future crime. At night, it tends
to reduce fear of crime and attracts more people, which may sometimes result in an extension
of shopping and business hours in the area at night. In any case, commerce may improve
sufficiently to allow increased investment in goods stocked, services and facilities, and in
infrastructure including increased outdoor lighting and advertising signs to attract more
customers. In turn, the investment encourages additional utilisation of the commercial area in
the daytime as well as at night. The improved prosperity increases job opportunities, which
increases pressure on housing in surrounding residential areas. Housing and population may
increase in both numbers and density.
45 La Stampa (2000) reported a crime at night in northern Italy in which a gang turned on the
loading area lights to make their entry to a warehouse and theft of contents appear like
legitimate work. Initially, the unauthorised operation of the light switches was a case of crime
causing light at night, but the main effect was the presence of light as a precondition to assist
the crime to take place more quickly without arousing suspicion, a direct positive effect of
light on crime.
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