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According to a Washington Post article, Nebraska's tourism board is applying for dark sky certification for the Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area. As part of their application, they are

planning dedicated educational programming related to the negative effects of light pollution on wildlife, ecosystems and human health, as well as how excess lighting leads to energy waste, crime and safety issues, and a loss of human connection to the night sky.

Is there any evidence that too much lighting leads to increased crime and safety issues? Even the author of the article doesn't agree with that claim, as they later write:

we need light at night for safety

mmmmmm
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pacoverflow
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    An article from UK's [College of Policing](https://whatworks.college.police.uk/toolkit/Pages/Intervention.aspx?InterventionID=3) is about **urban** lighting, stating *Across the 13 studies reviewed, both violent and property crime was reduced by an average of 21 per cent in areas with improved street lighting compared to areas without. There were no studies for which a statistically significant backfire effect (where crime increased) was reported.* However the OP's linked story is about a **national park**, where it could be presumed that artificial lighting can facilitate crime. – Weather Vane Dec 06 '21 at 18:40
  • @WeatherVane Yeah, that would be a substantially different situation. Natural nighttime light levels in the wilderness will make it hard to identify something to commit a crime against, especially in low-moon conditions. And if you know I'm there probably all you know is where my forehead is (you'll see my light--everything else will be nothing more than a shape) and that I'm in reasonable physical shape (because I'm out there at all. My lamp says I willingly ventured out there and thus I trust I can get myself back out.) – Loren Pechtel Dec 07 '21 at 04:07
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    This part is opinion, but if you need to carry your own lighting to be able to identify targets, and to illuminate doors etc to gain entry, then a perpetrator will be visible from afar in a national park. – Weather Vane Dec 07 '21 at 08:21
  • [This site](https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/lighting-crime-and-safety/) might reflect the original source of the claim. – Nat Dec 07 '21 at 13:02
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    it seems that it's simply poorly written and terms after the last two commas are independent issue to look at. – dandavis Dec 08 '21 at 20:23
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    The quote provided doesn't make the claim "too much light result[s] in increased crime and safety problems" – Michael Murphy Dec 09 '21 at 13:58
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    Lighting at night is so strongly associated with security, I would suggest it's *universally believed* that more light means more security. –  Dec 13 '21 at 03:05
  • @WeatherVane You have it backwards. I'm looking at the information a bad guy would have about me if they saw me in the wilderness at night. (I have been alone in the wilderness at night many times.) They're going to have to decide whether I'm worth attacking and whether they're in danger by attacking me, all with almost zero information. – Loren Pechtel Dec 15 '21 at 04:34
  • if light caused crime, don't you think cities wouldn't have turned off all streetlights decades ago, and companies all lights illuminating their buildings? Of course not, those lights are there because they've been shown time and again to reduce crime. – jwenting Dec 16 '21 at 07:07
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    @jwenting, no, I think people tend to be very attached to their beliefs, even when those beliefs have been shown to be wrong. – Mark Dec 16 '21 at 08:24

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