A quasi-experimental evaluation of the impact of forensic property marking in decreasing burglaries

Abstract

Property marking is a popular tool used by police agencies in burglary prevention programmes. 345 property marking kits were distributed to households in a treatment area in an English city. Changes in burglary in the treatment area were compared to three control areas. Crime type displacement to vehicle crime, criminal damage and violent crime, and changes in crime while controlling for geographic displacement were examined. Burglary decreased significantly by 82% in the treatment area in comparison to control areas during the first six months of the intervention. A significant diffusion of benefit effect to vehicle crime and criminal damage was also observed. The decreases, however, were short-lived with burglary levels returning to pre-intervention levels in the treatment area after 12 months.