Crime & Public Transportation: A Case Study of Ottawa’s O-Train System

• In Event: Crime and Place

Abstract

The environment is a critical aspect to consider in the development and application of crime reduction strategies. Studies of spatial and temporal patterns of criminal offending are often overlooked when trying to understand the criminal event. The structure of an urban city provides considerable insight into the spatial distribution of crime. In particular, public transportation can generate, attract and deter crime from occurring. The following study seeks to determine whether crime clusters around public transit stations. Geographic measures were applied to examine the potential criminogenic influence of the O-Train, a major transit system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Robbery, theft of vehicle and break and enter were examined from January 2006 to December 2006. Results demonstrate the importance of using geographic measures to gain insight into the spatial distribution of crime within transit environments.

Author

• Jordana Kimberly Gallison, Simon Fraser University