Everybody wants to live in a community where they feel safe to explore and enjoy community life in their municipality . The way we use light in communal spaces can play a vital role in reducing criminal behaviour and encourage the community to enjoy their precinct by day or night. Adequate area lighting increases community pride and confidence and strengthens informal social control.

How can light create a safer community?

The connection between light and our sense of safety is universally known. Lighting provides reassurance to some people who are fearful to use public spaces and pathways at night. It helps to improve surveillance and deter crime whilst offering a cost-effective crime reduction measure which is especially effective when used in situational crime reduction programmes. 

Case Study

The New York City Police Department previously worked alongside the New York City Housing Authority and the scientific research team Crime Lab to conduct a six-month controlled trial involving nearly 80 public housing developments. Half of the developments received new, temporary outdoor lights, and half did not. The study found that the developments that received the new lights experienced significantly lower crime. Increased lighting levels led to a 7% overall reduction in serious criminal offences and property crimes. A 39% reduction was also apparent in night time crime thanks to the newly installed public lighting. (Lerner, 2017).

Benefits of solar area lighting

Area lighting has evolved over the past decades, with substantial advances and the emergence of energy efficient and cost effective LED solar area lighting solutions. Large scale replacement programmes are underway worldwide. Installing solar area lighting is a clean, effective solution for precincts where the cost or environmental impact of grid power installation is prohibitive. Precincts working towards a more sustainable outcome, not only achieve environmental benefits using solar area lighting but it also delivers on a range of financial savings whilst helping to improve public safety. Area lighting has three main purposes: to increase pedestrian safety, reduce crime and provide comfort and amenity to all park walkways, jetties and other public spaces. 

Using LED technology for area lighting reduces carbon emissions and eliminates mercury currently used in legacy lighting. Zorro Unplugged solar area light reduces upwards waste light and consequent night sky glow through the use of an adjustable LED light panel to focus light when and where you need it.

Installing powered area lights has traditionally been very expensive and can disrupt a precinct with the digging of trenches and the laying of electrical cables. enLighten’s Zorro Unplugged is easy and quick to install. The ALL-IN-ONE standalone system requires no cabling or trenching and delivers all the benefits of a traditional powered light for a fraction of the cost. Harnessing the power of the Aussie sun, Zorro Unplugged is 100% sustainable, it is ideal for environmentally sensitive areas and places with limited or no power supply and is perfect for remote locations and high crime areas.