Alley-gating: measures of effectiveness and recipient satisfaction

As with many situational crime prevention measures, alley-gating is now becoming widely used in the UK. Despite this,
there has been limited research to demonstrate that alley-gating is an effective measure. Thus, it is essential to
demonstrate the effectiveness of this measure and, to explore the mechanism by which the gates might be effective and
any unanticipated consequences they might have. For instance, is there a change in the modus operandi (MO) of
burglaries committed in alley-gated areas? We might expect a decrease in burglaries where access was gained via the
back of the property which is coincident with an increase in those occurring through the front door. A further
assumption that is often made is that alley-gating might increase safety by improving community cohesion and
therefore lead to increased interest and neighbour vigilance. However, any evidence of these to date has been generally
anecdotal. This paper describes the results of an in-depth longitudinal survey of residents in alley-gated and control
areas and examines any differences in their attitudes and feelings of safety and satisfaction with their area over time.
For instance, it looks at levels of depression and anxiety and the degree to which residents are familiar with their
neighbours. We also present results from the analysis of recorded crime data. In particular, we examine changes in
levels of crime, point of entry, and consider the issue of crime displacement.