Am I Safe in My Home? Fear of Crime Analyzed with Spatial Statistics Methods in a Central European City

This article presents the results of a quantitative survey in a central European city, where more than 1,500 citizens were asked about their fear of becoming a victim of burglary. Additionally, vulnerabilities to crimes were measured. A large set of spatial data was analyzed with different spatial-statistic methods and visualized in maps intended to serve as a summarized overview of the citizens' fear of crime. First results show that there are specific hot spots in fear of burglary, majorly in the core of the city, and statistically significant differences in the pattern of fear of burglary between the districts. Furthermore, areas with a lack of technical safety standards were identified. This information shall help to start local crime prevention programs to reduce fear of crime and increase the quantity of protected homes.

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