Summary
"The issues of fear and insecurity in business improvement areas has given rise to commodified policing patrols aimed at targeting "undesirables" and reducing "urban decay". This thesis studied the merchant response to police patrols in order to assess the effectiveness of the police patrols in reducing incidents of urban decay and the overall levels of crime. Furthermore, this thesis sought to find an empirical relationship between broken windows style policing and the reduction of the levels of fear associated with particular incidents of crime. A Merchant Security Satisfaction Survey was used to ask a series of questions related to fear, risk, policing, and undesirables (i.e. homeless, youth gangs, panhandlers). The data showed that according to merchant perception, police presence and foot patrols positively affected crime levels by reducing sources of fear and crime. This thesis concludes that the partnership between public and private organizations positively affected the levels of crime."--Abstract.