The Geography of Pick Pocketing in Bus Stops: A Supply-Demand Analysis using Grid Cells

• In Event: Crime and Place: Crime and Transport

Abstract

Pick pocketing is a typical crime of areas where people converge, such as a bus stop. This study assesses the geography of pick pocketing in relation to the presence, number and characteristics of bus stops. Using Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, was split into cells which were used as unit of analysis. In order to obtain a selection of these cells with and without bus stops, an equal-stratified sampling procedure was used. Since bus stops differ on their capacity of attracting passengers as potential crime targets, the impact of flow of passengers and vehicles flows on pick pocketing in bus stops cells was tested using a negative binomial model. Findings show that both the share of cells with pick pocketing and the number of pick pocketing incidents were found significantly higher at bus stop cells than elsewhere. The total passenger flow and the number of boarding passengers per vehicle are significantly associated with higher levels of pick pocketing incidents. Although exploratory, these results suggest that an increase of number of buses per passenger may not only improve level-of-service but also promote passengers’ transit safety.

Authors

• Oded Cats, Royal Institute of Technology

• Vania Ceccato, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

• Qian Wang, Royal Institute of Technology