Research and experience shows BIDs' safety patrols work
Friday, January 4, 2008
Philadelphia Business Journal - by Natalie Kostelni Staff Writer
Center City and University City have dramatically curtailed crime in their neighborhoods as a result of beefed up safety programs that include a direct line to the Philadelphia Police Department.
Of the 11 business improvement districts in Philadelphia, Center City and University City are the only two that operate their own special safety forces that work in tandem with police. It comes at a cost.
The Center City District, a special services district established in 1991, spends $3 million annually for a troop of 42 so-called "safety ambassadors" who work seven days a week in two daily shifts that run from morning rush hours to 11 p.m. The University City District, formed in 1997, spends $1.5 million a year to employ more than 40 ambassadors.
These uniformed bicycle and foot patrols carry no weapons and are instructed to use no force under any circumstances other than self-defense.
They have constant radio contact with the police districts in their neighborhoods. Both the CCD and the UCD maintain Philadelphia police substations from which badged Philadelphia police officers monitor crime trends, ready to be deployed.
"They are the eyes and ears for the Police Department," said Lewis Wendell, executive director of the UCD, about the ambassadors. "If you look at the statistics, it has been quite effective."
The data are compelling. In University City, Part I crime, those that are the most serious, from rape and robbery to murder, are down 12 percent from 1998 to 2006, according to UCD data. Just from this year to last, those crimes are down 7 percent. In Center City, all serious crimes have been cut by 44 percent between 1993 and 2006. Theft from auto, which had been the most prevalent crime and accounts for two-thirds of all crime experienced in the downtown area, has been slashed by 80.3 percent.
"Once you create the reputation that there are eyes and ears on the street, you create a halo effect," said Paul Levy, CCD executive director. "The basic crime trends in the downtown have been low and have been on a downward trend for a decade."
One of the more challenging conclusions to draw on the reduction of crime in these two business improvement districts is whether the decline is the result of the safety ambassadors' presence or a combination of other efforts made by the improvement districts.
For example, during the same period in which University City saw crime incidences decline, the University of Pennsylvania instituted a low-interest mortgage program to encourage faculty and administrators to buy houses in the neighborhood. The program was popular and oversubscribed. In addition, a new Penn-run elementary school was established, creating a desirable alternative to pre-existing public schools and even boosting property values in a catchment area that serves the school.
"It's difficult to isolate those things," Wendell said.
Extensive research conducted by Lorlene Hoyt, assistant professor of urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, concluded business improvement districts themselves make a real difference in thwarting crime, while the addition of safety ambassadors linked to police helps even more. Prior to teaching at MIT, Hoyt worked as a crime analyst for the Philadelphia Police Department and also worked at the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
Additional eyes and ears on the street, especially by those who care about their neighborhoods, make a difference, Hoyt said in a recent interview. It's not just an increase in safety patrols but street sweepers, maintenance crews, as well as marketing campaigns that bring additional shoppers and other pedestrians to an area that, combined, increase the awareness that helps deter criminal activity.
Another factor at play is the "broken windows" theory that criminals tend to be drawn to areas with signs of neglect, such as broken windows, vacant buildings, trash strewn streets and sidewalks.
When an area attracts criminals, fewer pedestrians venture into it, and then it falls into decay, according to Hoyt's research.
But when a business improvement district deploys crews to regularly sweep and clean grafitti as well as fund lighting, signage, banners and other streetscape improvements to create an enticing environment for pedestrians, criminals are deterred, according to Hoyt.
Not every improvement district supports regular cleaning, let alone pays for safety ambassadors.
The CCD has the advantage of receiving its funding by taxing property owners in one of the city's priciest neighborhoods, where skyscrapers' assessed values are in the tens of millions of dollars. The UCD is financed by a collaboration of institutions in its area, with the University of Pennsylvania the lead sponsor. University City also has the benefit of the presence of other security forces used by such institutions as Drexel University and the University of the Sciences.
"It is not realistic that this can be replicated in a lot of smaller neighborhoods because this is completely based on the tax base," Levy said. "This is not a panacea for other neighborhoods because every other district can fund a certain amount of cleaning activity and very few have the resources to fund this.
However, putting a uniformed cleaning officer on the street can have a deterrent effect and send a message that someone is there and someone is in charge."
Other countries, such as England and Canada, find value in improvement districts and support them by making available matching funds or seed money to support the organizations, Hoyt said.
"That's the direction we need to go in," she said.
Release Date: Monday, January 7th 2008
