Restaurants use music as crime prevention

Restaurants use music as crime prevention
Tags: Burger/Steak/BBQ, Music Services, Operations Management
July 27, 2009

A Seattle McDonald's is one of several local businesses using outdoor music to discourage loitering, according to a story in The Seattle Times. Restaurants, retail shops and an apartment complex are piping opera, classical or country music into outdoor speakers as a crime prevention measure.

From The Seattle Times:

The trend is part of a larger scheme of environmental design aimed at keeping crime away, said Dr. Jacqueline Helfgott, chair of the criminal-justice department at Seattle University.

It's grown mostly through word-of-mouth because businesses are looking for creative solutions to crime, she said. "It's changing the nature of the environment so people make other decisions than committing crimes."