McGruff isn’t the only dog taking a bite out of crime. Turns out the more dogs a neighborhood has, the lower the rates of homicide, robbery, and assault in that community.
Cats, on the other hand, are apparently useless as crime fighters.
How do dogs do it? By making their owner get off their duffs and onto the sidewalk.
“People walking their dogs are essentially patrolling their neighborhoods,” Ohio State University doctoral student Nicolo Pinchak said. “They see when things are not right and when there are suspect outsiders in the area. It can be a deterrent.”
Pinchak and his co-authors looked at 595 census block groups in Columbus, Ohio, for the years between 2014 and 2016. They compared crime data in those neighborhoods with survey data from a marketing firm that had asked residents if they had a dog at home.
Those neighborhoods with lots of dogs had robbery rates two-thirds lower than neighborhoods with fewer dogs, and the homicide rates were half the size as well. The presence of dogs in a neighborhood had a bigger effect on crime rates than the proportion of young males in the neighborhood, residential instability, and socioeconomic status.
Not only did dogs turn owners into a neighborhood watch, but they also helped build trust between residents. “When people are out walking their dogs, they have conversations. They pet each other’s dogs,” Pinchak said. “They learn what’s going on and can spot potential problems.”
Dogs may be man’s best friends, but maybe they help us most by keeping us safe and making new friends along the way.
