The effect of business improvement districts on the incidence of violent crimes.
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether business improvement districts (BID) contributed to greater than expected declines in the incidence of violent crimes in affected neighbourhoods.


METHODS
A Bayesian hierarchical model was used to assess the changes in the incidence of violent crimes between 1994 and 2005 and the implementation of 30 BID in Los Angeles neighbourhoods.


RESULTS
The implementation of BID was associated with a 12% reduction in the incidence of robbery (95% posterior probability interval -2 to 24) and an 8% reduction in the total incidence of violent crimes (95% posterior probability interval -5 to 21). The strength of the effect of BID on robbery crimes varied by location.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that the implementation of BID can reduce the incidence of violent crimes likely to result in injury to individuals. The findings also indicate that the establishment of a BID by itself is not a panacea, and highlight the importance of targeting BID efforts to crime prevention interventions that reduce violence exposure associated with criminal behaviours.
MacDonald
John
J
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. johnmm@sas.upenn.edu
Golinelli
Daniela
D
Stokes
Robert J
RJ
Bluthenthal
Ricky
R
D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003132:Commerce; D003415:Crime / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D040541:Marketing / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014754:Violence