Residents fight burglars with flower power

http://in.Reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idINTRE55B3LC20090612

Proving yet again that spreading love, light, happiness, great fragrances and evidence of hand-care, is better than heavy-handed cracking down, it seems some intelligent humble Japanese decided to test a theory.

Statistics showed crime rates to be lower on streets with flowers lining them, what if flowers were planted along streets with no flowers, in an attempt to lower crime there?

When a neighborhood watch group found that there were fewer burglaries in buildings on flower-lined streets, Suginami decided to kick off Operation Flower and asked volunteers to plant seeds on side streets and in front of their homes.

So they tried it and it worked. :-)

… a population of 528,800, saw a record 1,710 break-ins in 2002.
…
… the number of burglaries falling to 390 in 2008, down almost 80 percent from 2002.