An occasional look at some common misconceptions, etc..

<2013 November>

Dark Deeds in Dorset

From the Dorset Echo,
December 23, 2012
“Since the midnight street-light switch-offs began in the Weymouth area in November, the police website reports: total crime figures (all kinds) in Littlemoor fell from 748 to 662 (down 12%); for Portland, from 1164 to 744 (down 36%). From the available data, there is no evidence that switching the street lights off at night in Weymouth has had any detrimental effect; rather, it has coincided with a significant reduction in crime.

Ed - Studies in the USA have also shown that reduced or no lighting reduces crime, contrary to both instinct and popular conception.

Other sports news

Mark Edwards reports on an interesting sporting development in a Warwickshire village, where a Police Community Support Officer managed to get the council to turn off most of the fifteen road lights on a 14-metre wide roundabout: It was being used by local youths, to the consternation of residents and motorists, as an unofficial football pitch. The young sportsmen have since departed to more suitable venues.
 

<December>