Tiny police posts reduce violence

A London natural experiment shows that shuttering neighborhood police stations raised violent crime and lowered clearance rates where distances to stations increased. By contrast, Japan’s ubiquitous koban (small neighborhood posts) illustrate a model where micro‑stations keep officers physically proximate, maintain response speed, and sustain deterrence and solvability. — Adopting or preserving small, local police posts could be a low‑tech, high‑impact urban policy to reduce violent crime and counter austerity measures that focus on office consolidation.