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"You take a million, billion tonnes of flaming inferno and turn it into 'twinkle, twinkle little star' ..."

Sun, 27 May 2007

Darkness reduces Crime?

Thanks to Apparent Brightness for this snippet:

In the northern Swedish town of Övertorneå, a dispute between the local council and its electricity distributor has meant that the town has had no streetlighting for many months now (TV programme in Swedish about the controversy here). Today Swedish television and other media report that since the streetlights were switched off, thefts and burglaries have halved. ‘Maybe the thieves are afraid of the dark’, says council boss Arne Honkamaa. On the other hand, maybe it’s being able to see the night sky that’s reducing crime.

Well, at least since the end of April, there hasn't been much darkness at all in a place like Övertorneå. That could be a factor.

Posted by Jon Kåre Hellan at Sun May 27 20:04:25 2007

The story is a few months old, but worth mentioning to the Irish Astronomical community, amongst others (campaigning for dark skies).

I don't have enough Swedish to follow up and see whats happened since...

- Alastair

Posted by Alastair McKinstry at Sun May 27 21:00:58 2007

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