Fighting Crime with Flower Power
Today’s Lesson: A creative way to fight crime!
Three years ago, a Tokyo neighborhood was experiencing a huge increase in burglaries. In fact, they had a record number of break-ins with over 1700 in one year alone! Time to get busy… and get creative. Soon after, “Operation Flower” was born!
City officials realized there were fewer burglaries on flower-lined streets, so they decided to ask volunteers and residents to plant flowers in front of their homes and on side streets in their neighborhoods. Their thinking was based on the concept that with more flowers facing the streets, more people would be keeping an eye out while watering or taking care of the flowers.
Did it work?
You betcha!! City officials say that in 2008 burglaries were down 80% in the Operation Flower neighborhoods. Wow! That’s pretty impressive…
They also added a neighborhood e-mail alert system for the residents to stay up on local crime trends.The residents in this neighborhood took action and put a plan in place to prevent more crime! Bravo!!
I think this story is a great example of thinking outside the box when dealing with crime prevention.Very creative.
What do you think?
Prepare.Prevent.Protect.
Comments
I think thats so cool – helped the look of the neighborhood too!
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