Internet of things as a complement to increase safety

Abstract

Safety evaluations made in the city Helsingborg indicate a decreased risk of being exposed to crime, but an increased feeling of unsafe. Damage in the form of scribbling (graffiti) is one of several indicators contributing to feeling unsafe. In this paper we investigate whether the use of Internet-of-things technology, where a sensor monitors a walking and cycling tunnel, makes it possible to reduce scribbling. The study shows a number of interesting results. When the sensor was installed, the public showed a great and positive interest. A short time after installation, the sensor was subjected to a qualified attack where heavy shocks were followed by an initiated way to determine if the sensor was damaged. A setting and tuning phase was used to empirically test different settings of the sensor to detect scribbling behavior. However, it became evident during the approximately 6-month long measurement period that we received many false alarms, which were, for example, that people took shelter in the tunnel in the rain and stood or walked slowly when using their mobile phone. During the measurement period, two scribbles occurred where the sensor detected one of them. We observe that the amount of scribbling has decreased significantly. The number of error reports on scribbling dropped from an average of 3.33 per month before the sensor was in place to 0.75 cases per month after the sensor was in place.