Security Concerns at Hot-Spot Bus Stop Locations

Abstract

Adequately addressing security concerns within public transportation will become a pressing issue over the next decade. These safety concerns frequently relate to terrorism, crime, and general disorder within public transportation with little systematic analysis directed toward transit locations. The given study geocoded 2 years of outdoor crime data within a midsized city and found the main bus terminal and three bus stop locations generated the highest levels of concentrated crime. Nonparticipatory windshield survey site observations were conducted at each location to qualitatively identify attributes that were possibly generating general disorder and crime incidents within these hot-spots. Implications for the criminology of place are discussed along with policing/security strategies for specific locations that facilitate an unusually high amount of official crime.

KEYWORDS:

• Bus stop crime
• transit security
• qualitative criminology
• defensible space
• CPTED
• spatial criminology