Stunning study finds car theft decreases when street lights are off

Whether lighting is a deterrent to thieves or simply helps them see what they are doing has been hotly debated. A new study suggests that to reduce car thefts, it would be better to leave them in the dark.

An unsuspected influence on crime

In the context of works published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Phil Edwards and his colleagues from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine looked at data on various forms of crime, including violence, burglary and theft from vehicles, as changes were made to street lighting in several English counties between 2004 and 2013.

Three types of public lighting were examined: using white lighting throughout the night, reducing its intensity between midnight and approximately 5 am, and turning it off completely during this same interval.

Although the forms of criminality analyzed were more frequent at night than during the day, it turned out that they had all decreased over the years studied, and that the extinction of public lighting seemed, quite surprisingly, to have contributed to this trend.

After taking into account changes in daytime crime levels (giving an idea of ​​fluctuations due to factors other than lighting changes), the researchers indeed found that when the light was off between midnight and By 5 a.m., the total nighttime crime rate had dropped by about 15%, and vehicle thefts by 44%.

Larceny complicated by darkness

The increase in vehicle thefts from adjacent streets, which were lit all night, suggests that the darkness makes it harder for thieves to distinguish valuables inside a vehicle. assess its safety or recover certain parts and equipment.

According to Edwards, this new work highlights the complexity of street lighting decisions. ” Previous studies have clearly indicated that people prefer lit streets, that they feel safer, but our analyzes show that its absence helps reduce crime. “, he concludes.