An Analysis of Burglary Hot Spots in Bangkok

Abstract

The safety of lives and property of civilians is the fundamental factor in developing a society like Thailand in a continuous and steady manner. Theft (i.e. residential burglary, larceny, and auto theft) is causing a big problem for the entire society. Despite this theft occurring in a great number of cases every year, the clearance rate by police is obviously low compared to other crime offenses. Thus, the way to solve this problem cannot depend solely on police clearance, but also on research to ! nd ways to prevent this type of crime from occurring.

This study utilized GIS (Geographic Information System) technology to identify the areas of theft hot spots and has three main research objectives:

1. To generate a crime map of theft and identify hot spots for this type of crime in Bangkok

2. To find out the factors related to the occurrences of theft in the environments that attract motivate offenders, opportunity, victims, and the police

3. To suggest prevention measurements for theft offenses in order to reduce this crime

The study is based on Ecological Criminology, i.e. Broken Windows Theory, Social Disorganization Theory, Theory of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, and Routine Activity Theory, to create a conceptual framework. It utilized call for police service data from the Metropolitan Police Bureau during a one year period, January 1-December 31, 2007. The crime locations were plotted on a digital map using GIS software in order to identify the theft hot spots. The hot spots cover only 2.02% of the Bangkok area but account for 16.17% of the theft occurrences.

The researchers collected the data in the hot spots in the various following ways: field observation; interview with three groups of 105 people that were theft victims, police responsible for the hot spot areas, and people living in the hot spot areas; and in-depth interviews with three experts. The data then were analyzed and compared with the data from the areas with few theft occurrences. The results were then used in three focus group meetings, concluding with the factors involving theft offenses and the measurements to prevent this crime.

The results of this study indicate that the hot spot areas possess the following characteristics: mixed land use, heterogeneous society, physical environment (physical and social deterioration), acceptation of law breaking and lax law enforcement, and the lack of self-protection and protection from the police. The measurements to prevent theft occurrences include the use of proactive patrol strategies, the providing of self-protection education and changing behaviors focusing on persons at risk of being theft victims, the encouragement of people in communities to coordinate in order to prevent crime, the improvement of physical and social environments, and stricter enforcement of law. Future research should pay attention to the areas without or with little theft, as well as the areas outside Bangkok.