Spatial and temporal patterns of commercial burglaries: the evidence examined

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Oct, 1996 by Simon Hakim, Yochanan Shachmurove

I

Introduction

The analysis of any problem necessitates that the underlying reasons for the problem be thoroughly understood. For the business owner, a primary concern in the daily operations of the business is the prevention of burglary, a major cause of loss in property. In the case of planning and enforcing anti-burglary policy, one must attempt to understand potential burglars' preferences, and then go about creating an environment that is unfavorable to the burglar.

Managers of commercial establishments have a vested interest in being concerned for the protection of their property and the safety of their employees and customers from criminals. Commercial criminals adversely affect businesses in several ways, with the most obvious being the monetary loss resulting from commercial crime; the successful crime results in the need to replace the cash receipts and merchandise loss during the theft. Moreover, businesses which are at a continual risk of criminal exploitation also run the risk of lawsuits from employees and customers who may have been harmed during a confrontation with the criminals. Needless to say, the avoidance of crime is as important for managers of commercial establishments because it affects their profits (see, for example, National Crime Prevention Institute, 1986; Felson, 1993; Poyner, 1993, 1983; Rand, 1991; Cohen, 1988A, 1988B).

There is a vast amount of literature focusing on the physical security of commercial establishments (Burrows, 1991; Eck, 1983; Gallery, 1986; Wels, 1971). Less well documented are the security considerations of the spatial location of the establishment (Rengert, 1988), the length of time the establishment has been in business, and the effects of burglaries on insurance premiums (see, Buck, Hakim and Porat, 1992). Hakim, Rengert and Shachmurove (1995) analyze the costs and benefits to the locality of burglar and fire alarms. In the following analysis, the effectiveness of physical security is considered in relation to the type, location, and length of time the commercial establishment has been in business. Special emphasis is given to alarm systems as a deterrent to commercial burglary.

II

Data

In order to understand the target choice of commercial criminals, the police burglary data files of three Philadelphia suburban communities for a two-and-a-half year period beginning in 1989 were analyzed.(1) This provided data in addition on which commercial establishments had been burglarized. Questionnaires were mailed to a large number of business establishments (not all of the business that received questionnaires had been burglarized; these were the control group).(2) A letter from the police chief accompanied each questionnaire that was to be returned to the police department.

There was a high 42 percent response rate for this phase of the survey. Complete responses were received from 126 burglary victims, 189 alarm equipped establishments, and 72 control group businesses which were neither burglarized nor had an alarm. The police files and survey responses were then merged with real estate assessment data which lists the type, value, and the location of the property.

The data was collected from three suburban townships surrounding the city of Philadelphia. These communities were chosen because of the differences in their geographical and socio-economic characteristics. Tredyffrin Township is located on major arterial highways which are remote from and do not provide easy access to Philadelphia. These highways were designed to bypass the city. This township is mostly an open, residential suburb comprised of a homogeneous, high income population. Among the three suburbs, Tredyffrin includes the smallest number of commercial establishments, the majority of which are located in office parks. Upper Merion township has a range of middle class to affluent residents with a relatively large number of manufacturing establishments, retail stores in shopping malls, one of which is among the largest in the Middle Atlantic region, and strip malls. The Township is located on major roads which are directly connected to Philadelphia. The third locality is Springfield township which is not adjacent to the city and is populated with mainly blue collar residents. It includes two large shopping malls and many service establishments.

Table 1 lists the number and type of commercial establishments in each township. We included manufacturing establishments with the other commercial establishments since the local police categorize burglaries of manufacturing plants as commercial burglary. The diversity in characteristics of the three localities, which are each typical of many other communities, provides results which are representative of many suburban localities in the United States. In the following section, we will discuss the victimization rate of commercial establishments by type, location, and physical precautions taken by the owners from these three townships.

III

Commercial Burglary and the Type of Establishment