Author: Edited by Martha J. Smith (School of Community Affairs, Wichita State University) and Derek B. Corni
ISBN No: 0-95456-074-4
Review date: 13/12/2025
No of pages: 226
Publisher: UCL Jill Dando Institute
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
Gropers, graffiti-sprayers, gangs, thieves, drunks - no wonder a book about preventing crime and disorder on public transport calls it an almost impossible job.
The title Secure and Tranquil says it all – it’s no use, even a defeat, to make buses and trains and platforms secure if they are too locked-down and ugly, and off-putting to travellers. The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at University College London have done a great job with this book and we need a dozen more like it. Chapters cover anti-social behaviour; theft, robbery, assault and indecent assault against passengers, and staff; vandalism and graffiti; and what are termed line-of-route crimes (such as stone-throwing at trains).
The discipline of designing out crime runs through the book – open sightlines, good lighting, discouraging loiterers and hustlers. Though the authors are American and Australian, the book is UK-based, though you could quibble that the otherwise fine colour photos are all of London. The authors stress they are writing a manual. It’s practical, or problem-oriented, to use the jargon. The good news is that good work is going on – Operation Rhino for instance on theTube in east London, featured in the October 2002 issue of Professional Security. The bad news: staff and passenger fear of disorder and anti-social behaviour is vague but powerful. And it doesn’t take much to undermine security measures; the book prints a photo of a no-smoking sign above a ‘this area is under video surveillance sign’.
A graffiti-sprayer has rubbed out smoking and written a rude -ing word instead. That little four-second piece of graffiti demolishes all the CCTV investment. Or as the authors conclude: “People’s perceptions about their personal security are unlikely to change, however, unless the behaviour and environments that generated such perceptions in the first place are tackled and altered directly.” The authors call for a ‘whole journey’ approach – public transport operators cannot tackle crimes on their own; what of car parks, retailers, venues? Hence the need for more snappy works of analysis like this.
