THE DETERRENT EFFECT OF TERRORIST INCIDENTS ON THE RATES OF LUGGAGE THEFT IN RAILWAY AND UNDERGROUND STATIONS

The study reported here considers the deterrent effect of terrorist in cidents on the rates of luggage theft in railway and underground stati ons. We selected for our task a well-publicized major terrorist incide nt that took place on 18 February 1991. The analysis of the data shows that in the periods immediately following the terrorist incident ther e was a sharp but short-lasting decline in the number of cases of lugg age theft. This indicates that either increased police vigilance, or t he fear of potential thieves that items of luggage might contain explo sives, produces a definite if short-lived deterrent effect.