Citation

Thrasher EJ, Schnell JB. Transp. Res. Rec. 1974; 487: 46-54.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1974, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper summarizes the findings of a study on crime, vandalism, and passenger security on urban transit systems. The study's major goals were to appraise the national scope of transit crime and vandalism and to explore means of controlling the problems and make suggestions on the basis of the research findings. The emphasis in this summary is on means of controlling the problems. Several ideas to control transit crime and vandalism are discussed: the use of materials that are specially fashioned to withstand criminal and vandal acts on transit; procedures and tactics to protect transit passengers, employees, and properties and ways to detect and deter offenders, keep them under surveillance, and apprehend them when necessary; mechanical and electronic devices, as well as features of stationary sites, for assisting police and security forces in their duties; programs for involving the community in formulating anticrime and vandalism measures and programs for maintaining a liaison with educational authorities and personnel; the methodical cultivation of good relations with police, courts, and the media; and the attitudes of the public toward transit crime and vandalism to ascertain whether fear of crime and vandalism influences passenger decisions to use urban transit. Suggestions for further research on transit crime, vandalism, and passenger security are also given.

Language: en