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Bruce Schneier had a piece on how taxi drivers in Kyoto, Japan are being encouraged to loiter because their mere presence seems to reduce crime:
In Kyoto about half of the convenience stores had signed on for the Midnight Defender Strategy. These 500 or so shops hung posters with slogans such as "vigilance strengthening" written on them in their windows. These signs are indicators to taxi drivers that they are allowed to park there as long as they like during breaks. The stores lose a few parking spaces in the process but gain some extra eyes which may be enough to deter a would-be bandit from making their move.
Since the program started in September 2013 the number of armed robberies among participating stores dropped to four compared to 18 in the previous year. On the other hand, the shops which were not in the Midnight Defender Strategy saw an increase in robberies, up from seven to nine incidents compared to the year before. Overall the total number of robberies was nearly halved in the prefecture.
Original story found at RocketNews.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 06 2015, @03:51PM
It's all in the summary. During "the previous year" (2013?), there were apparently 18 armed robberies in the participating stores, and 7 armed robberies in non-participating stores, for a total of 25 for the year. Presumably just in the Kyoto area.
In the next year (2014?), there were 4 armed robberies in participating stores, and 9 armed robberies in non-participating stores, for a total of 13 for the year.
It sounds like armed robbery is not a major concern in Kyoto (population: ~1.5 million).