Crime prevention through urban requalification and municipal police presence

Julia Guerra, Joana Monteiro and Vinicius Pecanha

Economics Letters, 2025, vol. 254, issue C

Abstract: This study evaluates the impact of the Conjunto de Estratégias de Prevenção (CEP) Program on street crimes in Rio de Janeiro. CEP is a place-based intervention that combines improved urban design with focused policing. The program pilot project was carried out in 2021 in a commercial area ranked among the 10 micro-areas that concentrated more street crimes in Rio de Janeiro. We use a synthetic difference-in-differences approach to construct a counterfactual for the treated area. The results indicate a significant decline in street crimes after intervention, driven primarily by a reduction in thefts. These findings are robust to alternative estimation strategies and suggest the program effectively curbed crime escalation relative to a synthetic control. Our study highlights the potential of a place-based intervention as a tool for urban crime prevention.

Keywords: Street crimes; Hotspot interventions; Crime prevention; Crime prevention through environmental design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 H76 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:254:y:2025:i:c:s016517652500285x

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112448

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