TASE:TNDO

Reducing Crime with Street Lighting in New York City



Last updated May 12, 2023


We find evidence that communities that were assigned more lighting ex- perienced sizable reductions in crime. After accounting for potential spatial spillovers, we find that the provision of street lights led, at a minimum, to a 36 percent reduction in nighttime outdoor index crimes.

This paper is ideal for civic leaders and planners when discussing and developing business cases for street and area lighting. This paper does an excellent job of analyzing the cost-benefit of improving lighting to address nighttime crime and safety for citizens.

Although this paper does not address advanced Smart Lighting controls specifically, Smart Lighting controls enable the optimization of lighting and energy use to minimize energy usage and operational management costs that can comprise as much as 30% of a municipal budget.

Key Findings

  • Accounting conservatively for potential spillovers, lighting reduces outdoor nighttime index crimes by approximately 36 percent and reduces overall index crimes by approximately 4 percent in affected communities, an outcome which is likely to be cost-beneficial, should the impact of lighting persist over time.
  • The 36% drop in index crimes identified in the study from is approximately what would be expected to occur during a very serious recession (Raphael and Winter-Ebmer 2003; Gould Weinberg and Mustard 2005) or in response to a ten percent increase in police manpower (Evans and Owens 2007; Chalfin and McCrary 2018).
  • We anticipate that the ratio of benefits to the costs of additional lighting would be approximately 4 to 1.

A companion video presentation by the authors may be viewed here:

Related Post Archives

A CIO’s Guide to Smart Street Lighting-Enabled Smart City Networks

CIOs in municipal organizations may benefit from understanding the evolution of street and area
lighting technologies and standards.

This Guide may help CIOs and their teams collaborate on Smart City
initiatives with their organizational peers in Public Works and Engineering departments.

The Business Case for Smart Street Lighting as the Smart City Network

Owners and managers of street and area lighting need high quality, reliable information to support informed decisions about Smart Lighting and Smart City-related projects. Until now, most of this information has either been scattered across a vast number of academic studies, or websites with unsourced information and marketing-speak.

This article is intended to provide a supportable, accurate framework to help answer these questions:  “Why should our organization care about Smart Street Lighting? What do street lights have to do with our Smart City vision? “

The Health Effects of Light Pollution

A growing body of scientific research suggests that light pollution can have lasting adverse effects on human health, and wildlife health, habitat, and migration.

Factors Affecting Perceived Safety in Railway Stations

Feeling safe in public transport is essential for mobility, and fear of crime can be a larger problem for the individual than crime itself.

Among the most important characteristics affecting passengers’ safety are lighting, surveillance, other persons’ behaviour, time of day, and one’s own gender.

Creating safe spaces for railway and public transit facilitates increased use, which has follow-on socio-economic benefits for cities.

You May Also Like…

The Business Case for Smart Street Lighting as the Smart City Network 

The Business Case for Smart Street Lighting as the Smart City Network 

This paper details all of the key components of the business case for Smart Lighting-enabled Smart City networks, including connected sensors ...
A CIO’s Guide to Smart Street Lighting-Enabled Smart City Networks

A CIO’s Guide to Smart Street Lighting-Enabled Smart City Networks

CIOs in municipal organizations may benefit from understanding the evolution of street and area lighting technologies and standards. This ...
Tondo Smart Ltd. Awarded ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Certification

Tondo Smart Ltd. Awarded ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Certification

Tondo Smart Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a Certificate of Compliance to the ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security ...
The Business Case for Smart Street Lighting as the Smart City Network

The Business Case for Smart Street Lighting as the Smart City Network

Owners and managers of street and area lighting need high quality, reliable information to support informed decisions about Smart Lighting and ...