| Many cities have implemented Crime Prevnetion Through Environmental Design (CPTED) approaches to reduce various types of criminal activity, namely, drug trafficking and subsequent violent street crimes. A widely used approach involves installing concrete barriers (also referred to as Phoenix Barriers) that change the flow of vehicle traffic into and out of the problem neighborhood. previous research on the effects of CPTED approaches is scant, and is often limited to anecdotal evidence or weak research designs. This paper will present an evaluation of a Northeastern city's Phoenix Barrier project. Using aggregated police reports for a ten year period, the evaluation employs an interrupted time series, design to measure changes in violent and drug-related crime in the barrier area, contiguous neighborhoods, and throughout the city. Preliminary findings suggest the Phoenix Barriers produced immediate and long term decreases in drug-related crime in the barrier area. Similar decreases were not observed in the contiguous neighborhoods or throughout the rest of the city. However, decreases in violent crimes in the barrier area were mirrored by a reduction in violent crime in other neighborhoods. |
Updated 05/20/2006