| Upon the voters’ approval of the Public Safety Tax in November 2006, the city of Joplin implemented the Neighborhood Security Light Program with $925,000 allotted for this effort. Since that time, over 1,500 lights in the city have been either added or replaced through this program. According to the Joplin Police Department, this program has significantly impacted the crime rates, as they have seen an average decrease of 47% in five areas of crime.
In 2008, the JPD conducted an initial study of the effect the additional streetlights in eight sub beats had on property crimes of burglary, theft from vehicle, larceny, vandalism and vehicle theft. The review included statistics of these crimes both before and after the installation of the streetlights, documenting a reduction in crimes in these sub beats. In 2008, the Department noted an overall decrease of 33% in these five crime areas.
Today, this analysis shows an overall decrease of 47% of the five crime areas. Specific crimes, such as vehicle theft and larceny, have decreased 66% and 77% respectively since 2007.
“The decrease in crime that we saw last year, when we analyzed areas where street lights have been installed, appears to have been sustained since that analysis,” said Police Chief Lane Roberts. “The same trend seems to exist in areas where street lights have been installed since then. Although it has only been two years, it is reasonable to think that the installation of new street lights is significantly and positively affecting the crime rate.”
The streetlights, paid for through funds generated by the ˝-cent sales tax, are the combined efforts of the city and the Empire District Electric Company. To date 606 new lights have been installed and 914 existing lights have been upgraded. These sales tax revenues also provided funding for the hiring of 29 additional police officers, as well as a crime analyst.
“The benefits of the new street lights have been positive in all of the patrol sub-beats,” Roberts said. “The additional officers have been effective in identifying causes of crime and holding offenders accountable. The crime rate has been reduced accordingly. Joplin is a safer community today than it was before the Public Safety Sales Tax was implemented.”
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