Spatial Analyses of Installation Patterns and Characteristics of Residential Burglar Alarms

Abstract

The dearth of research on spatial analyses for installation patterns and characteristics of residential burglar alarms exists in the crime prevention literature in general, and even a few existing studies are based on observational and anthropological approaches with little quantitative analyses. Spatially analytical approaches have not been used to examine the distribution and pattern of burglar alarms. With installation record of burglar alarms, spatial statistical techniques are used to examine spatial patterns of residential burglar alarms with demographic, socioeconomic, and housing characteristic variables. Various spatial analyses demonstrate that at a macro-level, many spatially concentrated areas of burglar alarm installation are observed, indicating that installation patterns of residential burglar alarms are not evenly distributed throughout the city. Such patterns occur depending on neighborhoods’ conditions such as demographic, socioeconomic, and housing characteristics. A higher black population and neighborhoods with a higher proportion of the younger population—ages below 17 years, lower unemployment rate, and higher proportion of black householders are among identified variables to explain spatial characteristics and patterns of burglar alarm installations. A feasible policy implication from the present study is that crime prevention communities (e.g., local governments, police department, private security companies) can utilize research findings to promote local communities and neighborhoods with property crime problems to use alarm systems as part of crime prevention efforts in conjunction with local crime data analysis.