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Kyoto taxi drivers reduce robberies by 50 percent by doing nothing
- noobermin 12y ago50% really isn't a lot if you're talking about 18 total incidents, but this still is a pretty cool idea.
- visakanv 12y agoWhile the dataset is kinda small, I think it makes a lot of sense. This is something right out of Jane Jacobs' "Eyes On The Street" idea from "The Death And Life Of Great American Cities": > “A city street equipped to handle strangers, and to make a safety asset, in itself, our of the presence of strangers, as the streets of successful city neighborhoods always do, must have three main qualities: > First, there must be a clear demarcation between what is public space and what is private space. Public and private spaces cannot ooze into each other as they do typically in suburban settings or in projects. > Second, there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street. The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to insure the safety of both residents and strangers, must be oriented to the street. They cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind. > And third, the sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously, both to add to the number of effective eyes on the street and to induce the people in buildings along the street to watch the sidewalks in sufficient numbers. Nobody enjoys sitting on a stoop or looking out a window at an empty street. Almost nobody does such a thing. Large numbers of people entertain themselves, off and on, by watching street activity.” I love it. Simple, elegant. Would love to hear if anybody has any divergent thoughts about how this sort of p2p peer-surveillance/protection mechanism works in other complex systems!
- potatolicious 12y agoJane Jacobs' work is famous, but yet still under-appreciated, and her ideas IMO under-implemented. For the most part we're still stuck with half-assed bastardized versions of Le Corbusier's shitty ideas about the Radiant City, even though we've already seen terrible results from it across the board. One thing that disappoints me is that American cities are experiencing a huge resurgence in urbanism, but yet most of this comes in the form of isolated towers attached to parking garages, not any structures that would encourage street life or "eyes on the street" to any substantial degree. Huge apartment buildings are going up in "revitalized" downtowns throughout the country yet the streets are as ghostly and empty as ever.
- visakanv 12y agoYeah, here in Singapore I've witnessed several instances of really "Wait, why would you do that?!" urban redesign by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. I would assume that the people working in there must be passionate about urban spaces and would've read Jacobs, but it seems otherwise. (Stripping of street life because of regulations about painting old shophouses, etc)
- potatolicious 12y agoYeah, I'm at a loss explaining it too. I think part of it comes down to the fact that a lot of these places were never urban - they may have had big buildings but the people never experienced street life in the way older American cities - and most European cities - have experienced it (see: Boston, NYC). As a result urban planning is too much an exercise in theory and too little based on pragmatic experience. Another component is that Radiant City-esque designs look better on paper. You have tall, majestic buildings where architects can go wild without the constraint of adjacent buildings, and ample parkland appeals to our intuitive sense of what must be pleasant, but isn't in reality. In areas where urban decay has been especially problematic, these designs afford residents a sense of safety - they are safely ensconced in towers of glass and steel and may enter and exit with their cars. In many American cities avoidance of the street is sadly still a feature, not a bug.
- mc32 12y agoFrom what I've read, that is the case for Brasilia. Looks great on paper. They got to start from scratch in the middle of the jungle, kind of like Washington DC when L'enfant had similar blank slate. In any event, while Brasilia looked good and grandiose on paper, it was nowhere near human scale.
- dasil003 12y agoIt actually works surprisingly well in the residential "superblocks" because the apartment buildings are all raised on pillars so you can walk in a straight line between any two arbitrary points within a superblock, there are plenty of trees and parks, and the local commercial zones are easily accessibly by foot. But then when you get to the center with the bus station and government buildings it's a mass of huge roads and wide open spaces choked with exhaust fumes that's very unpleasant to walk around.
- patcon 12y agoWhile this didn't involve a currency, it reminds me of the concept of supplementary currencies, where a token is used to exchange an abundant resource for a scarce one, with better overall allocation. I supppse in this case, the resources were parking spaces and security. Luckily there was a coincidence of wants, and so no token was needed. Slum sanitation and bus tokens in Curitiba are the classic example of the sort of supplementary currency I mentioned, for anyone interested: https://books.google.ca/books?id=hBfQdF3EhXAC&lpg=PA142&ots=jSUG3u0fbI&dq=currency%20bus%20tokens%20garbage&pg=PA142#v=onepage&q=currency%20bus%20tokens%20garbage&f=false https://books.google.ca/books?id=hBfQdF3EhXAC&lpg=PA142&ots=...
- grizzles 12y agoI read this and thought - Oh, so the cabbie is supposed to go limp when a robbery occurs; what a uniquely Japanese style solution. But it's not that at all. Gypped again.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 12y agoPlease don't use "gypped", it's a slur.
- kelukelugames 12y agoIt comes from the word Gypsy in case readers can't make the connection.
- paulhauggis 12y agooh no..the PC police is out in full force
- UrMomReadsHN 12y agoDownvoters - this is correct. Thw word refers to the Romani people (aka Gypsies) http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/30/242429836/why-being-gypped-hurts-the-roma-more-than-it-hurts-you http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/30/242429836/why... "The noun "gyp" was described at the time as "current in polite circles," and "derived from the popular experience with thieving Gypsies." "I encounter a lot of people who tell me that they never knew the word 'gypped' had anything to do with gypsies, or that it's offensive — especially when the word is heard not read," says University of Texas at Austin professor Ian Hancock, who was born in Britain to Romani parents. "My response to them is, That's okay. You didn't know but now you do. So stop using it. It may mean nothing to you, but when we hear it, it still hurts.""
- Dylan16807 12y agoInteresting definition of polite.
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- TamDenholm 12y agoI really like alternative solutions like this to bad behaviour. My favourite instance of this is story of hooded teenagers outside stores intimidating passers by and general unwanted loitering in car parks etc. The solution was to loudly play music that the miscreants would really hate, like Engelbert Humperdinck, Neil Diamond, Dolly Parton etc. They moved on pretty quickly because they couldnt stand listening to it.
- pserwylo 12y agoThis has also happened at train stations in Melbourne. The music of choice is usually classical. Anecdotally I haven't noticed any specific change in behaviour around the music, but it did and still continues to sound like a good idea to me.
- visakanv 12y agoHa! That is amazing. I would love to read a book or blog just full of examples like these. Another couple I can think of: (more common examples)- * reducing baggage waiting time by increasing the walking time to the baggage carousels. * Reducing "the phone rings too many times before customer support answers" complaints by lengthening the time per ring. * Using mirrors next to elevators so people distract themselves and feel less bothered by the wait.
- jschwartzi 12y ago> * Using mirrors next to elevators so people distract themselves and feel less bothered by the wait. Pretty much exactly like a pet bird.
- agumonkey 12y agoI can't find it again but I've read an article listing these things. One other (obvious) instance is the shelve full of tiny cheap products (gum, batteries, ...) put just before the checkout, also to distract people waiting in line.
- visakanv 12y ago
- goochtek 12y agoI live in Kyoto and was surprised to learn that there were even 18 convenience store robberies in the year before the program started. It's really safe here so I wonder what percentage of those armed robberies included assault on the clerk. Anyway, this is a good idea. And the Kyoto taxi drivers are amazing too. They aren't your standard "just arrive in the country and don't know where anything is" taxi drivers that are found in many cities. These guys usually own their own taxi and take great pride in knowing where and how to get to anywhere in Kyoto quickly and safely. If you are in Kyoto and take a taxi, you'll never have to worry about being taken the long way so they can get extra money. So good on them for working with the police in this situation.
- igni 12y agoI found that level of pride & care to be case for taxi's all over Japan, though I never took a taxi in Tokyo where it could well be different.
- brazzy 12y agoHaving lived in Japan, what surprised me was the implication that convenience stores have parking lots. Really? Don't think I ever saw one.
- pcurve 12y agolol You're right. I've only seen them in front of large supermarkets. Edit: n/m. I guess it's common once you get out of the busy part of Kyoto, but near main streets. http://tinyurl.com/l558zcy http://tinyurl.com/l558zcy http://tinyurl.com/lgmf5l2 http://tinyurl.com/lgmf5l2 http://tinyurl.com/l3vfnds http://tinyurl.com/l3vfnds they're all over the place. lol
- nitrogen 12y agoNote: HN will elide links that are excessively long, so next time you can just paste the Google Maps links directly. Plus a lot of people don't like clicking on blind links.
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- jheriko 12y agoThe data set is far too small to draw serious conclusions from yet.... especially the 'increase' in stores that weren't participating (although a 50% drop 'feels' like it should be significant...). Still, hopefully the effect is real and less people suffer as result. :)
- SapphireSun 12y agoWhen the sample size is that small, it's possible that there were just one or two dudes doing most of the robberies. If they decided to move, call it quits, or went to jail, that could be an alternative explanation to the drop. I think you'd have to implement the experiment over a region to make it accurate if N is so low.
- redblacktree 12y ago> It appears to be a win-win-win situation for all involved Will no one think of the criminals?
- domdip 12y agoThe increase in robberies at non-participating stores is a bit concerning. This might deter in a similar manner to The Club, which did a good job of preventing your car from being stolen but didn't drop the overall crime rate.
- azakai 12y agoAnd possibly worse, I wonder if robberies of other places than convenience stores increased. The interesting number is whether overall crime decreased or not.
- mabbo 12y agoWhen I worked in fast food in high school, we had a standing policy that all police officers got the 50% off employee discount. Generally, having a couple cruisers in the parking lot deterred trouble.
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoI don't think this is legal or considered acceptable today, at least in most US states. A police discount for the purpose of affecting favorable treatment (even if that treatment is merely for continued presence) is kind of like a bribe. Many police departments just don't allow these kinds of discounts as a matter of policy.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- refurb 12y agoSurprised you're getting downvoted. I've seen a couple statements by police departments in the US (unfortunately I can't find them right now) that stated they will accept no discounts or freebies for the exact reasons you stated.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y agoA decade ago the fast food place i worked at had a 50% police discount. We never had too many police come in anyways.
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoI worked fast food a couple of decades ago, and there would always be some new manager trying to give a cop a discount, and the cop having to explain why they couldn't take it. It really depends on the area, I guess.
- philwelch 12y agoReally? In my city, places can literally hire off-duty cops to stand guard around construction sites or direct traffic. And they show up in uniform and with all the legal powers of a police officer.
- bkurtz13 12y ago"... a win-win-win situation..." I don't think the thieves would see it that way.
- asveikau 12y agoMaybe they stay out of prison?
- fiatmoney 12y agoThis is a perfect opportunity to plug this book, on the reverse problem: "Streetwise: How Taxi Drivers Establish Customer's Trustworthiness" http://www.amazon.com/Streetwise-Establish-Customers-Trustworthiness-Foundation/dp/0871543095/ http://www.amazon.com/Streetwise-Establish-Customers-Trustwo...
- brohoolio 12y agoI can't even imagine living in a state where a city with 1.4 million people having 4 robberies in participating stores. That's crazy. Of course I live in Michigan. I've been thinking about crime a bunch after listening to the Serial podcast and thinking about The Wire. Crime is expensive. Trial, police, incarceration are all resource intensive. It would be amazing to have those resources available for city residents to do something else, like have a cleaner town, better schools, safer roads.
- semi-extrinsic 12y agoIn the US there are, sadly, big financial interests in keeping the prison population high (the prison industry complex). Couple with what seems to be a very high reluctance towards giving someone who is mentally ill treatment instead of prison, and no real public mental health care, and you get what you get.
- pavel_lishin 12y agoI don't think it's just that; I think that in America, there's this huge belief system that focuses on individuals, self-reliance, etc - and the flip side of that is a the belief that if you commit a crime, well, you've made your bed, and that bed is in a prison cell, and you'll be sleeping there for a really long time.
- Animats 12y agoThis only works in a country where guns are rare. Another common crime-prevention device in Japan is orange dye balls. Convenience store clerks have some handy to throw at robbers. This marks them for later pickup by cops. It probably wouldn't help much in the US.
- kuschku 12y agoHmm, in Germany a lot of products in most stores is tagged with a special capsule, if the product is stolen, as soon as it leaves the store, the capsule explodes and releases a 100ml of extremely bright red ink, which stains and can’t be gotten off anymore (literally, it will stay on your skin for a month or so). Also this marks the article as stolen, so no one will buy the red-stained product from anyone.
- cesarb 12y agoWhat happens if the cashier forgets to disable the capsule? With alarm tags, sometimes the cashier forgets to disable the tag. It's no big deal - the alarm beeps at the door, you go back to the cashier and the tag is disabled. With an exploding ink capsule, you'd have ink everywhere instead of just a harmless beep. On your clothes, on other products you bought, on the store floor...
- gambiting 12y agoWell, exactly what you would think happens. A perfectly good product gets ruined. Cashiers are trained to pay attention, and I imagine if they forget then they have to pay for the destroyed item.
- nmeofthestate 12y agoI doubt the capsule explodes. If it's like a similar-sounding security-measure in the UK it just leaks ink when tampered-with.
- pavel_lishin 12y agoWhat sorts of products are tagged with this? I'm imagining that if I'm buying a soda, I'm not running the risk of being smeared with red ink.
- Goopplesoft 12y agoA bit off topic but is it conventional to have side mirrors on the hood like the taxi in the image does? Better view?
- mc32 12y agoFrom what I recall, most cars in Japan have door side mirrors, but taxis typically have fender mirrors for better blind spot coverage. I think I have seen a few cars with both door and fender side mirrors.
- freedrull 12y agoI have always wondered why nearly every time I enter a convenience store in Japan sure enough there are 2-5 people standing there reading magazines for seemingly a really long time. I always wondered why don't they just buy it and at read it at home?
- jlebar 12y agoI'm just going to leave this here: > Police are clearly happy with the results and the shops are also pleased with not have knives waved in their faces Emphasis mine.
- Dylan16807 12y agoIf you're trying to make a point you should actually make it.
- renownedmedia 12y ago"It appears to be a win-win-win situation for all involved" Well... win-win-win-lose for the robbers.
- adventured 12y agoGiven Japan's murder rate - roughly 400 to 500 per year in a nation of 127 million - I have to wonder what would happen if you just refused to comply with a robber. What are the odds they'd proceed to attack, much less try to kill you. I suppose the clerk might risk a beating.
- pmontra 12y agoThey used knives for those robberies, not guns. That's enough to reduce the risk of being killed.
- robbrulinski 12y agoMight have a few scars to carry around.
- junto 12y agoNotably, using a similar tactic, the 'Gävle goat' survived this Christmas from arsonists because the town set up a taxi rank around the wooden structure: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/christmas-2014-the-giant-goat-who-has-survived-against-all-the-odds-9948703.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/christmas-201...
- grimman 12y agoThat's the tactic employed, yes, but that doesn't mean that's why it survived. I'm certain a dedicated goat burner would gladly lob a Molotov cocktail and leg it away from the scene. We'll have to wait and see what happens next year; a sample size of 1 is not useful. :)
- pavel_lishin 12y agoI think drones are cheap enough these days that you could probably put a slow-burning fuse on one, and dive-bomb the Goat from a safe distance.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- orblivion 12y ago18 + 7 incidents (participating and nonparticipating, respectively) before the program - for an entire small region of the country. I wonder if the price of implementing the program compares to what should be a minuscule insurance policy.
- ck2 12y agoI didn't think Japan was an anti-crime mecca but it is surprising to read about high robbery rates there. Well I guess a dozen robberies among a million people is a fraction of anywhere in the USA. I am more curious WHY people are robbing convenience stores in Japan than the ways it is being combated because it means there are turning elsewhere to solve whatever money problem they seem to have.
- frevd 12y agoCities should do that to prevent Graffiti (better than surveillance cams).
- mootothemax 12y agoThis idea leaves me feeling a bit uneasy; aren't the robberies still taking place, just at different locations? There's also the missing question: what happens if all the stores start offering parking to the taxi drivers?
- cthalupa 12y ago>This idea leaves me feeling a bit uneasy; aren't the robberies still taking place, just at different locations? This is covered in the article. There is some shift to other stores, but the total number of robberies across all stores was roughly halved.
- kagamine 12y agoI think that moottothemax is implying more that the crime is going elsewhere, perhaps there has been an increase in homes being burgled for example. The article doesn't cover that, the desperate/criminal are still desperate/criminals. Maybe there was an increase in cars getting broken into?
- toogy 12y agoViewing the size of the dataset this really does not mean anything. It's like training a statistical model on 10 data points and proudly saying that you have 95% accuracy at predicting something when actually you don't.
- dschiptsov 12y agoWhy there are so many idiotic headlines?) It should be "Kyoto taxi drivers reduce robberies of grocery stores, not themselves by 50 percent by sitting and doing nothing in their cars on a vacant parking lots in front of grocery stores.
- Mikeb85 12y agoSome of the headlines are hilarious. This one detailing a convenience store robbery in particular: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/05/06/saitama-man-robs-7-eleven-with-knives-steals-3-onigiri/ http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/05/06/saitama-man-robs-7-ele...