Category: Articles

Battle Ground School District in Clark County has reduced vandalism to almost zero with a policy to darken campus after 10:30 p.m. Spokane School District and Riverside School District have been experiencing similar results for over six years.

Is it possible to save energy and cut crime at the same time? According to school district experience, simply turning off the lights has cut vandalism. Sound preposterous? Experience shows that contrary to conventional law enforcement theory, which stresses well-lit areas, many districts had less vandalism once they’ve instituted a dark campus policy to save energy dollars. This is significant when you consider how much vandalism costs schools.

In 1980, California public schools lost approximately 13 million dollars from vandalism related acts during non-school hours, according to statistics collected by the State Department of Education.

One of the first school districts to reason that vandals get no thrill out of working in the dark was the San Antonio School District in Texas. In 1973 they started a night time black out program at 19 schools. Sam Wolf, Director of Security for the district says, “I remember as a kid, we never hung around in the dark. We hung around a street light or some other kind of illumination. We wanted to see who was with us. With vandalism, the thrill is seeing the windows broken, in seeing the words written on the wall. It is no thrill to hang around in the dark”.

Vandalism damage in the district was reduced from $160,000 in the late 1960’s to $41,000 per year. Also, “We saved so much on utilities that our business managers and everybody else were quite impressed,” says Wolf.

CALIFORNIA RESULTS

Bill Bakers, retired Associate Superintendent for the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, who pioneered an energy savings program that has saved over a million dollars per year, reports:

“We are not aware of any school districts where blacking-out campus coincided with an increase in vandalism, burglary, or arson. There has not been an increase of such incidents in our district during the hours of total blackness. It seems logical that a blackout discourages youth from entering campuses — they have as much fear of the unknown as anyone else. In case of burglars, any light shown on a campus is cause for suspicion on the part of neighbors and police.”

Don Rodriguez, former Energy Manager for Cupertino Union School District reported that vandalism decreased an additional 29% or $8,160 during 1981-82, when they instituted a dark campus policy, along with their antivandalism program, Project Pride. Project Pride rebates a percentage of the savings resulting from a decrease in projected losses due to vandalism. It also involves a variety of activities including weekly, monthly, and semiannual reports and graphs and charts on vandalism rates.

While the cause and effect between night time blackouts and a reduction in vandalism is not clear cut, no one has reported an increase in vandalism due to night time blackouts.

The Livermore Joint Unified School District has had a dark campus policy since 1974. Director of Facilities Maintenance, Rudy D’Ambra says:

“A dark campus policy positively will not increase vandalism. This is what many people are concerned about, including the police, but it did not happen. We’ve noticed a slight decrease in vandalism over the years, but we have done other things too, like vandal watches and Sonitrol.”

Energy Savings in his district were about ten percent after the first full year of the dark campus policy

Skyglow is the orange “smog” that hangs over all cities at night. It is caused by wasted light shining upwards, rather than downwards where we need it.

The image shows the excessive light pollution thrown out by large towns and cities, as seen from a rural location in South West England. The extent of the problem is highlighted by the fact that some conurbations can be detected from over 35km away.

Skyglow over suburbia

The offending lights are behind the raised horizon, but due to poor direction they light up the sky.

You can see the glow of the football floodlights for many miles, even though the photographer is over a hundred feet ABOVE the football ground. Note also the brightly and poorly lit Abbey. If the lights were properly directed, the target would be well lit, without the need to shine the lights into the sky.

Again, from altitude this offending town is spilling light upward, as seen by the reflection from the clouds. One of the worst light polluters in the South of England, the ferry terminal at Poole can be seen from many miles away due to its poorly directed lighting.

Again over 1/2 mile away and 100 feet or so above the complex, the actual

lights themselves are still visible. It makes you wonder whether they actually want to light the ground… Whilst all these locations show evidence of poor lighting, fortunately not everyone is so careless with their energy!

Many town, country and district councils, as well as some private businesses, have listened to the CfDS argument, and have made changes to their lighting policy which saves them energy (and therefore money), and also reduces the light pollution nuisance for the local population.

The vast majority of UK children have never experienced total darkness because parents surround them with artificial lights, a survey suggests. Even though a power company sponsors the research, it says that leaving the landing light off now and again might be better for their health. The national survey suggested that 98% of children do not sleep in total darkness. Most parents admitted that their children were never far from a source of artificial light – more than half said they left a hall or landing light on at night purely to comfort the child. One in three provides a night-light in their child’s bedroom. Powergen, which commissioned the research, said that leaving lights on at night costs Britain an enormous £468m a year. Its “energy efficiency manager”, Mike Newell, said: “Coupled with the effects of street lighting, many of our children will grow up without ever knowing what true darkness really is.” Doctors also say that sleeping in near or total darkness has its benefits. Dr Chris Idzikowski, director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service, said: “By leaving lights on at night, parents believe they are comforting their children. “In actual fact, exposure to constant artificial light may reduce levels of melatonin, which regulates the body’s internal clock, and the Circadian cycle. “This could lead to a disruption of sleeping patterns, hyperactivity and may have a negative impact on a child’s health.” A third of parents surveyed said that they believed that children did not notice the change in light when the clocks go forwards or backwards.

Vandalism, burglary and robbery in Des Moines have dropped 3.5 percent.

June 5, 2004

A money-saving decision to turn off thousands of Des Moines street- lights met with dire predictions from critics who warned that darkened streets would create a haven for crime.

Statistics tell a different story.

The first four months of 2004 saw a 3.5 percent drop in vandalism, burglary and robbery, and “we’ve observed no significant increase in crime in the areas where the lights have been turned off,” Police Maj. Dale Patch said.

Cash-strapped city leaders last summer came up with a plan that would cut power to 39 percent of streetlights along major streets and save taxpayers an estimated $700,000 a year.

Seventeen percent of the city’s 23,376 streetlights went dark in September.

Concerned residents howled.

“Thieves don’t like light,” business owner Mike Kinter said last year. He said the move would set back crime prevention measures taken over the past 10 years.

Earlier this week, Kinter acknowledged that the darkness has had no noticeable effect, and said, “I understand both sides.”

Others remain unconvinced that the move was a good idea, no matter how much money it saves.

Dave Reed says it’s about convenience, not crime.

“The city in general is still well-lit enough that crime isn’t a problem,” said Reed, whose home near Drake University is across the street from one of the lights that was turned out. “You want to see where you are going when you have to go outside.”

When the issue first surfaced, Reed said he found the idea of turning out streetlights ridiculous. His opinion hasn’t changed.

“We expect the city to provide services for its taxpayers, services like police and fire and streetlights,” Reed, 45, said Wednesday night while he walked along University Avenue with his 7-year-old son Spencer and the family dog. “It’s still dark, and I’m still not happy about it.”

Evy Washington of Des Moines puts little faith in crime statistics. She takes courses at Des Moines Area Community College’s downtown campus and AIB College of Business just south of the loop and takes the bus home at night.

She’s convinced that darkness will invite trouble.

“A lot of things happen in the dark,” Washington, 40, said. “Things that maybe aren’t reported as crimes.”

Washington also wonders if taxpayers will ever see a benefit.

City officials “claim they want to save money, but I don’t know if that’s worth it,” she said.

The city’s traffic and transportation director, Gary Fox, said power has been returned to 170 of the darkened lights since September at the request of police officers, homeowners and business owners. All such requests must get city approval. A dozen came from police, most in the first three months.

One request came from elderly residents of the Hartford Manor apartment building at Southeast Sixth Street and Hartford Avenue.

The streetlight in front of the long, single-story building has been dark since last fall.

“We have one in a wheelchair, two with walkers, and it’s just too dark out there,” resident Neta Phillips said.

The tenants started a petition in April. Everyone signed. The city agreed to turn the light on.

So far, darkness remains.

“I’m glad to know they are going to turn it back on,” Phillips said. “But we are still waiting.”

Fox said some residents and business owners in areas where lights were turned out have complained about vandalism, burglary and other crime. Police and Fox point out that the statistics show no measurable increase since the lights went out.

Light pollution is ‘any adverse effect of man-made light including sky glow, glare, light trespass, light clutter, decreased visibility at night, and energy waste’. (International Dark-Sky Association). In other words, Light pollution is the inefficient, uneconomical use of light, use that sends light wastefully toward the sky or light that provides so much glare you can’t see anything else

Why is it bad?

It wastes huge amounts of money/energy.

In the UK alone, it is estimated that street lighting throws £100m+ of unnecessary light into the night sky every year due to the poor design of most streetlight fittings. The proliferation of badly designed and overpowered domestic lighting is also adding to the growing waste. Popular, but usually inappropriate, 500w and 300w halogen ‘insecurity’ floodlights use 10x the power needed, and provide poorly directed and dazzling light as well. Generating all of this wasted power creates huge quantities of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

It’s Unsafe

Contrary to popular belief, bright dazzling lighting does not make it easier to see at night. The human eye is more comfortable and efficient in lower, more even light levels, so lower wattage and better light direction is more important than simple, wasteful brightness, and provides safer light levels to navigate or see intruders by.

But what about Security?

It’s also a myth that bright lighting provides better security. There is no conclusive evidence that it does, and at least as much evidence to suggest it has the opposite effect. Certainly many people may feel more secure at night around very bright lights, but every day we hear of muggings, rapes, violence and vandalism perpetrated directly under bright street lighting, or even in broad daylight. Criminals need light to see their victims by, and will often avoid darker areas entirely.

Surveys have repeatedly shown that a light on inside a home or office is a far more effective deterrent than an outdoor one. Fitting a time controller to switch lights on and off at a programmed times to suggest that someone is home is a good practice.

Disturbed Sleep and Health Problems

Many people regularly have their sleep disturbed by over-bright street lighting, neighbors floodlights, or by sky glow. This interferes with the body’s rhythms, and causes sluggishness, poor concentration, depression and irritability. As well as seriously affecting health, the knock-on effect is lost work efficiency, accidents and expensive healthcare. Our bodies evolved to sleep in natural darkness, and our basic right to health is being undermined by carelessness and profligacy.

Recent research also suggests strong links between light pollution and cancer, particularly breast cancer.

Sky Glow

Looking around the night sky, it seems that no matter where, in city or the country, it is blighted by an unpleasant orange or yellow glow caused by artificial lights wasting light and energy into the sky. Many astronomers are very concerned about the impact that this has on science, as increasingly they are unable to study the night sky due to the stars being obscured by this pollution. In the UK alone, it is estimated that 60% of school children can no longer see most of the stars in the night sky due to this wasteful phenomenon – a great tragedy as astronomy is on most schools curriculums, and few pupils can now study the ‘real’ stars, having to use a computer simulation instead. But it’s not just a tragedy for astronomers. For many ages Mankind has admired and wondered at the broad sparkling vista of the ‘dark sacred night’. Human history and religion is coloured by this wonder, and it is our loss, and that of our children, if we blot this out through wastefulness, selfishness, and apathy.

What can we do about it?

Though much light pollution is created by huge streetlighting schemes, office buildings left lit all night, and industrial estate ‘insecurity’ floodlights, we can all play our part in helping to curb it. Here are a few things you can do to ‘bring back the night’.

* Use low wattage and power-saving bulbs (preferably ‘CFL’ compact fluorescent). Do you really need that 300w halogen? A well directed ‘full cut-off’ 60w light would be better, cheaper to run, and less polluting?

* Buy better outdoor light fittings which are with ‘full cut-off’, preventing unnecessary light shining upwards.

* Switch them off! The best kind of light is one that’s switched off when it’s not needed. It saves you money, and can help you and everyone else enjoy the beauty of the night sky again. Even better if you can convince your employer or company to do the same.

* Look around you. If you see unecessary, dazzling or wasteful light blighting your town, ask the owner, politely, if they can switch it off or replace it with a better, more efficient fitting. If they say no, move on. Others may be more receptive.