Apple Picking: The Rise of Electronic Device Thefts in Boston Subways

Abstract

As mobile technology advances and the demand for WiFi and phone coverage increases, electronic device theft is becoming an international problem in metropolitan public transportation systems. Using transit police reports, this dissertation applies crime opportunity theories to understand which factors increased electronic device theft in Boston subway stations from 2003-2011. This approach addresses previous studies regarding crime on public transportation, robbery and larceny on subways and electronic device theft-as none have focused on this problem as the theft of a "hot product" within a "hot environment." Negative binomial regression, crime script analysis, sign tests and temporal pattern identification are used. This study identifies 24 subway stations where electronic device theft is concentrated. The findings suggest that district crime rates and subway station characteristics may help transit police understand why certain stations serve as activity spaces for electronic device theft. It also recognizes "hot times," risky passenger behavior and potential offender tactics. Policy implications and recommendations are discussed.

Mixed Land Use: Implications for Violence and Property Crime

“…Based on these results, we propose that transport stations can act as both crime generators and crime attractors depending on the characteristics of the particular station and the characteristics of those located nearby. A study examining the influence of subway station characteristics on theft of electronic devices found that busier stations that provided car parking and adjoining bus services had higher rates of theft (Gentry 2015). This finding demonstrated that subway stations are both generators (increased ridership, generates more crime opportunities) and crime attractors (car parking and bus services makes the station accessible to outsiders therefore enabling the facility to attract offenders from outside the local area).…”

Understanding the position of urban spatial configuration on the feeling of insecurity from crime in public spaces

“…However, the surveillance theory by Jacobs (1961), Newman (1973), Skogan (1992), , , Ceccato (2020), Pain et al (2006), Clarke et al (1996), Loukaitou-Sideris et al (2009), La , , Ceccato and Bamzar (2016), and is challenged by the findings of Ramsay (1982), Soomeren (1996), Gentry (2015), Belanger (1999), Burrows (1980), Shellow et al (1975), Loukaitou-Sideris et al (2002, Bhattacharyya (2016), Sypion-Dutkowska and Leitner (2017), Dhillon and Bakaya (2014), Newton et al (2015), Solymosi et al (2015), Boessen and Hipp (2018), Newton (2004), , Crenshaw and John (1989), Talen (1996), and Roy and Bailey (2021), which revealed that the surveillance theory and environmental design including the layout of building plots, lightings, and police stations cannot establish a sense of community through strategies to unite people because the more the people on the streets, the more the opportunities for people to commit crimes. More trash, social chaos, social disorder, and social imbalance in the community also cause crime to occur.…”

Crime and safety in transit environments: a systematic review of the English and the French literature, 1970–2020

“…Most articles fall within the spectrum of Information Communication Technology (ICT), access control systems, smartphone apps, emergency alarms, crime-resistant materials, ITM machines, RTI, apps, and social media. As a target of crime, mobile phones are said to be the first target by theft offender in transit environments in the United Kingdom and the United States (Newton 2016(Newton , 2018aNewton et al 2014a;Gentry 2015). They may also facilitate certain types of transit crimes, such as cyber-theft, thanks to Wi-Fi or cyber-harassment (Newton 2016).…”