The Effect of a Technology-based Crime Prevention Solution on Citizens’ Safety Perception

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

Little is known about the effect of digital crime prevention strategies sharing crowd-sourced crime-related information on the safety perception of the recipients. Our study compares the effect of a technology-based crime prevention solution to a more traditional physical security patrol over citizens’ safety perception. Safety perception has been measured using the constructs of fear of crime (FOC) and perceived risk of victimization (PRV), analogue to the International Crime Victims Survey. SALUS (www.salus.ch) is a mobile application developed for the purpose of this study, allowing users to share criminal or suspicious incidents with other users and to learn about preventive measures related to these incidents. The study has been conducted as a quasi-experiment with 2 treatment groups (patrol group N=240; SALUS group N=32) and a control group (N=275) in a Swiss city. First results show a very low level of FOC paired to a rather high level of PRV before the intervention, leaving little space for improvement. Both interventions proved positive, slightly increasing safety perception.

Authors

• Raquel Rosés, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

• Cristina Kadar, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

• Irena Pletikosa, ETH Zurich, Switzerland