Flower Power Against Crime

Abstract

Broadcast Transcript: From the "Beautification Bashes Burglary" File comes this: Residents of a neighborhood here in Tokyo are planting flowers to stamp out crime. When a neighborhood watch group reported that streets with flowers had fewer burglaries, the people of Suginami kicked off Operation Flower. Volunteers planted seeds on the streets and in front of their homes. Suginami, which saw a record 1,710 break-ins in 2002, reported only 390 in 2008--a drop of almost 80 percent. So what is it about the flowers that effected such a dramatic turnaround? Well, caring for the plants means more people are on the street keeping an eye on things. But I think it's more botanical than that: Flowers have "pistils" and they're not afraid to use them. #ceas #hacker #japan