Sustainable Communities Index

Indicator CC.1.b Property crimes

Why Is This An Indicator Of Health and Sustainability?

Crime impacts the perceived safety of a neighborhood, inhibiting social interactions and adversely affecting social cohesion.^a Residents' worries about safety in their neighborhoods can be a cause of chronic stress.^b Fear of crime and feelings of vulnerability to crime can decrease residents' sense of control over their lives and their life satisfaction.^c One study found that residents of neighborhoods with greater safety (as reported by other residents of the neighborhood) had less hypertension than residents of neighborhoods with less safety.^d Residents' feelings about safety in their neighborhoods can also be a disincentive to engage in physical activity outdoors, particularly among women and older persons.^e

A study in Baltimore, Maryland ranked 65 neighborhoods on the Neighborhood Psychosocial Hazards Scale, a combined measure of social disorganization, public safety, physical disorder, and economic deprivation. The researchers then linked the neighborhood measures with health data for a sample of residents. Regardless of age, gender, race, education, smoking or medical history (e.g. hypertension, diabetes), residents were more likely to have had a heart attack if they lived in the most hazardous neighborhoods compared to the least hazardous neighborhoods.^f  In a separate study using the same data, researchers found that living in the most hazardous neighborhoods increased the odds of being obese compared to living in the least hazardous neighborhoods of Baltimore. More importantly, this relationship could not be explained away by differences in resident demographics, wealth, education, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, diet, or physical activity.^g

Methods

The data for this indicator comes from police incident reports written by the San Francisco Police Department for crimes reported from 2005 to 2007. The types of crimes included are:

• Burglaries and attempted burglaries
• Thefts and attempted thefts, not including pickpocketing
• Stolen vehicles and attempted stealing of vehicles
• Shoplifting and attempted shoplifting
• Arson and attempted arson
• Malicious mischief, including vandalism

Limitations

This indicator gives information about where in San Francisco property crimes took place. It does not provide information about where the perpetrators of the crimes lived. Some crimes may be committed by residents of the community where they take place, while others may not.

About 1% of the property crimes in our list could not be included in the map and table. These include crimes that took place outside of San Francisco, crimes whose location was listed as unknown, crimes for which our data source showed no location, crimes whose listed location could not be recognized by our computer mapping system, and crimes whose listed location was too imprecise to map.

Measuring the incidence of crime is extremely difficult. Many crimes go undetected or are not reported to police, and therefore cannot be counted. It is estimated that less than half of crimes in the U.S. are reported. In particular, property crimes are often less likely to be reported than violent crimes. There are many factors—such as gender, the advice of family and friends, and the value of the lost or stolen property— that can affect whether or not a person reports a property crime.^a

While crime rates provide insight into patterns about where crimes occur, they do not explain the many factors that influence their occurrence. Very similar crimes may be committed for different reasons by different people or in different areas. Crime is rarely caused by a single risk factor, but rather by the presence of multiple risk factors and the absence of protective (or resiliency) factors. Risk factors are traits or characteristics that increase the chance of an individual or community being affected by or perpetrating crime. Community-level risk factors for property crime include poverty and high levels of unemployment.^h Protective factors are traits or characteristics that protect an individual or community from crime. Social cohesion is one community-level protective factor against crime.ⁱ   Taken alone, however, a low rate of property crime does not necessarily mean that a neighborhood is socially cohesive. Similarly, it is possible for a neighborhood to be socially cohesive even if it has a high rate of property crime.

The relationship between the built environment, social cohesion, and crime is complex. Being the victim of a crime or living in an area where there is a lot of crime can increase a person's fear of subsequent crime, which in turn can lead him/her to feel isolated and participate less actively in the community.^c,i By inhibiting social interaction, therefore, crime can adversely affect social cohesion. This can create a vicious circle, as social cohesion can be a valuable tool in decreasing crime.^j In addition, the level of crime perceived by residents of a neighborhood may differ from the actual crime rate, and may be influenced by the residents' feelings of integration into the social fabric of the neighborhood or by other aspects of social cohesion.^h,k