Situational Crime Prevention and the Wild West

Shawna Cleary, Ph.D.

University of Central Oklahoma scleary@uco.edu

Rashi K. Shukla, Ph.D.

University of Central Oklahoma rshukla@uco.edu

Marcus Felson, Ph.D.

Texas State University San Marcos mf38@txstate.edu

Prepared for Spring Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Synonyms: Crime prevention, Natural crime prevention Overview: Criminology now includes an increasing body of research and theory that subsumes crime prevention within a larger topic of protection and survival in nature. That body of work not only considers crime prevention as representative of a larger survival process but also takes into account human-animal interactions. Such interactions include human abuses of animals and animal populations and nature in general – including abuses that are against the law. But human-animal interactions also include humans protecting against animal incursions into their herds and home territories. Background & Review of Literature The situational prevention literature has recognized historical examples of human self-protection as a background topic, but has increasingly brought the interactions with nature to the foreground. After reviewing a bit of that literature, the current paper shifts to a pictorial review of situational crime prevention in America’s “Wild West.” That term often applies to an historical period that has disappeared; but even today many Western states include sections with ranches, horses, cattle, and exposure to predatory incursions. Political struggles are found between metropolitan environmentalists who wish to reintroduce wolves to rural areas and ranchers who fear the loss of cattle and sheep to those same wolves. Migrants from city to suburban fringe and rural areas seek greater security than the areas from which they came; but they introduce new risks and fears to the areas that they enter. Thus one person’s protection becomes another person’s threat. Survival from outside threats is a perennial problem in human history as in natural history. The situational prevention of attacks also was found in the old west. Consider this problem: ingots of silver bullion were carried by stagecoaches that were often victims of robbery by gangs of armed men on horseback. The problem was completely solved by

instead producing 300 pound ingots that could not be carried on a single horse (Lingenfelter, 1986). That was the end of stagecoach robbery. This example has been noted by several criminologists (Tilley and Laycock, 2002; Clarke, 1999; Farrel and Pease, 2006). Another example from the old West came from pre-cowboy times. The ancient cliff dwelling Indians in what is now Arizona and New Mexico entered their homes by climbing up ladders. At night they pulled up their ladders to prevent intrusions. This illustrates that situational prevention is far from new in behavioral terms. Moreover, Oscar Newman (1972) called our attention to territoriality and defensible space. Although situational crime prevention now includes many more ideas than that, it is still recognized that Oscar Newman placed defense of oneself, one’s offspring, and one’s dwelling area within a larger natural history perspective. That perspective was elaborated greatly in Felson’s (2006) Crime and Nature, which included symbiotic and competitive ideas about offenders and the larger society. Yet the breadth of “environmental criminology” is widened still further by new criminological papers on human-animal interactions. Recent research on parrot poaching strongly supports the idea that such crimes are highly structured in time and space and therefore subject to situational crime prevention (Pires, 2012; Pires and Clarke, 2011, 2012). Additional important research considers human attacks on elephants (Lemieux and Clarke, 2009), and a more general review of wildlife crime is found in Pires and Moreto (2011), explaining why such offenses are subject to situational prevention. It is also clear from Eliason (2012) that wildlife crime is theoretically understood using the routine activity approach, a thread running through each of the articles reviewed in this paragraph. Clarke (1999) offers us a framework for evaluating security by offering 25 techniques for situational crime prevention, along with many examples. His framework is widely employed to analyze crime situations and recommend solutions. These techniques are organized in five columns based on how they contribute to crime reduction. Included are (1) Increasing the effort to carry out the crime, (2) Increasing the risks to the offender, (3) Reducing the rewards that the crime gives to the offender, (4) Reducing provocations – especially for dispute-related crimes, and (5) removing excuses for carrying out the crime. The current review considers how ranchers and others in today’s Wild West use situational prevention techniques to protect against intrusions and attacks. The more important goal is to add examples and hence to widen the repertoire of ideas for studying the prevention-protection process and for understanding routine activities and situational prevention of crime. This essay shall demonstrate how the techniques of situational crime prevention have been and are currently being used in the American West, especially for non-human predators. Despite the urban image of rural life as idyllic, the reality is far from that. Ranchers, farmers, and other property owners often have a great deal of land and animals that must be controlled and protected from

people, animals, and insects. A protective mentality is very important for their economic survival, and is taken very seriously. A Note About the Pictures The pictures used within this article were taken by the primary author. Many of the pictures were taken in rural Oklahoma; a few were taken at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City and the Woolaroc Museum in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Crime Prevention in the West

Figure 1. Old Style Bank Teller Window with Bars

Figure 2. Cattlemen’s State Bank Safety Vault

We begin (Figure 1) with a bank teller window, more heavily barred than most modern banks in the United States. Although the design of the bars is attractive, their main purpose is to keep offenders out of the money area – an example of target hardening along with a kind of perimeter control. That did not prevent very aggressive robbery by multiple armed men, but it did narrow the span of vulnerability. Figure 2 shows a safe from the Cattlemen’s State Bank, designed to be too heavy for easy removal and too easy to break, given its heavy lock. Although we take these safe designs for granted today, they originated in an earlier era in response to the mobility offered by horses and a desire to respond.

Figure 3. Examples of Different Styles of Barbed Wire

One of the most important inventions in the American West was barbed wire. Without it one can argue that the West would never have developed, since mass grazing of animals would have been impractical if they could easily wander off. The Biblical image of a shepherd watching a small herd of sheep or goats contrasts with the American process of maintaining very large herds with minimal supervision. Barbed wire fencing was developed in the late1800s as a method of frugally enclosing animals and land while also preventing human theft. Barbed wire fence design styles range from legal and patented to illegal versions of patented designs to custom designs, resulting in thousands of versions (Liu, 2009). In fact, the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City displays 1,300 different types of barbed wire fencing. Figure 3 contains a few examples of different barbed wire styles from the late 1800s, each with its own patent. None of these styles is currently in use today, but the basic idea continues to the present in other forms. Figure 4 shows a rudimentary rural fence, while Figure 5 shows a more professional version – each of which serves to contain cattle and signal other people, Modern fencing in the West (not depicted) consists of wire woven in a small v-pattern that encloses cattle and horses without catching their hooves, is very difficult to climb, and keeps out large predators unless they can jump.

Each of these fencing types applied defensible space long before Newman articulated it.

Figure 4. Rudimentary Barbed Wire Fence in Rural Oklahoma

Figure 5. Well-Constructed Barb Wire Fence in Rural Oklahoma

Not so well known outside the west is the old technique of hanging dead coyotes on a fence as a signal to live coyotes that their lives are endangered if they cross (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Dead Coyotes Hanging on Fence as Warning

It is important to consider in reading the current paper that predatory animals, from insects to coyotes, do more than just nibble. Attacks sometimes decimate crops or herds, and other times remove the profit margin. Early ranchers worked on a much smaller scale, but today’s West includes not only large scale operations but many small scale ranchers who work part-time in the city, and are subject to considerable loss of income and way of life. Thus protection of livelihood is a serious issue for them.

Figure 7. Plastic Owl Serving as Place Manager in Barn

The use of predator against predator is an important part of their defense strategy. Owls are natural predators for farm pests, including small birds and rodents. Many rural people in the West place statues of owls in their barns to act as artificial place managers (Figure 7). Plastic snakes and hawk statues are sometimes used for the same purpose. Scarecrows are designed to look like a farmer and are sometimes used as artificial place managers to scare off birds and protect crops, Many of the domestic pets in metropolitan areas become very important economically in the American West. The role of dogs was already mentioned above. Not so well known to urban people is the role of barn cats – commonly used as place managers at farms, ranches and stables. These cats live in and around barns for the primary purpose of hunting and killing mice, rats, birds, moles, and small snakes.

Figure 8. Cattle Guard

Animal containment is an important rural issue for many reasons. Especially for large animals. Ranchers and farmers do not want to lose their cattle or find them injured and have to euthanize them; nor do drivers want to run into stray cattle. Figure 8 illustrates a cattle guard, designed to contain large animals in pastures while allowing gates between them to remain open. Cattle guards are formed by placing steel bars close together horizontally across a shallow ditch under a gate. The bars discourage hoofed animals from exiting through the gate as their hoofs slip on the bars and get caught between them. Cows and horses will generally avoid cattle guards, although they are not foolproof. Some horses may jump over them, and both cattle and horses have been known to catch their hoofs between the bars, breaking one or more legs, leading to certain euthanization.

Figure 9. Guard Donkey with Longhorn Cattle in Rural Oklahoma

One of the most interesting prevention techniques is to use guard donkeys near cattle to watch fences and prevent intrusions (Figure 9). Donkeys are good place managers because they have a dangerous kick and tend to attack animal predators. Similarly llamas or large dogs are sometimes used for the same purpose. This gives us a new way to look at “formal surveillance,” with animals functioning as security guards, requiring relatively inexpensive maintenance and demanding no pensions or benefits.

Figure 10. Longhorn Cow Wearing Branded Saddle

Figure 10 illustrates branding – burning unique marks into the flesh of cattle, horses, or saddles to identify them with a particular ranch. This fits very closely with the situational prevention method of identifying property to discourage burglary (Laycock, 1991).

Sometimes a brand would be altered by the thief in order to allow sale. A more modern technique is less easily thwarted: Freeze branding leaves a white brand mark on an animal’s hide and is more effective than burning. Thus we see that Ekblom’s (2001) “arms race” between offenders and crime prevention techniques applies as much in the West as in metropolitan areas around the world. Modern animals and property are also identified with brass nameplates (not illustrated) that offer some protection if offenders do not have time to remove them.

Figure 11. Stall Divider

Because large scale horse operations have been commonplace in the West, managing animal interaction is important. Because horses are herd animals, it is important for them to see and communicate with each other, but physical interaction can be problematical if they begin to fight. Horses within a single farm or ranch are usually separated from one with a variety of walkways and stall dividers (see Figure 11) allowing them to see, hear, and smell one another, without biting or kicking. Conclusions Numerous types of situational crime prevention apply to the American Wild West and today’s remaining Western frontier. Target hardening includes bank teller windows, heavy bank safes. Barbed wire fencing and cattle guards serve to control access. Guard donkeys and barn cats, serve as place managers. Branding cattle identifies property. Stall dividers and horse barn designs serve to avoid equine disputes. Dead coyotes on fences and owl statues in barns give instructions to intruders. We can readily see that situational prevention depends on routine security built into the design and management of daily life. This applies in the metropolis and Wild West alike, but not always exactly alike. Much more needs to be known about human-animal interaction and predation, and human protection of their own animals from others. Crime is part of a much larger ecological process which we are only beginning to understand.

RELATED ENTRIES Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Design Against Crime, Guardianship, Routine Activities Approach, Surveillance and Crime Recommended Reading and References Arnold, Caroline. 2001. The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde. New York: Clarion Press. Clarke, R.V. 1999. Hot Products: Understanding, Anticipating and Reducing Demand for Stolen Goods. Police Research Series Paper 112. London, UK: Home Office. Eckblom, Paul. 2001. Future Imperfect: Preparing for the Crimes to Come. Criminal Justice Matters 46(1):38-40. Eliason, Stephen L. 2012. Trophy Poaching, A Routine Activity Perspective. Deviant Behavior 33(1):72-87. Farrell, G. and K. Pease. 2006. 'Criminology and Security' in M. Gill (Ed.) The Handbook of Security, pp. 179-199. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Felson, Marcus. 2006. Crime and Nature. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Publications. Felson, Marcus and Rachel Boba Santos. 2009. Crime in Everyday Life. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Jeffrey, Clarence Ray. 1977. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Publications. Laycock, G. 1991. Operation Identification, or the Power of Publicity? Security Journal, 2(2), 67-71. Lemieux, Andrew M. and R.V. Clarke. 2009. The International Ban on Ivory Sales and its Effects on Elephant Poaching in Africa. British Journal of Criminology 49(4):451-471. Lingenfelter R.E. 1986. Death Valley and the Amargosa: A Land of Illusion. Berkeley: University of California Press. Liu, Joanne S. 2009. Barbed Wire: The Fence that Changed the West. Missoula, Montana:Mountain Press Publishing Company. Newman, Oscar. 1972. Defensible Space, Crime Prevention Through Urban Design. New York: Macmillan.

Pires, Stephen F. 2012. The Illegal Parrot Trade: A Literature Review. Global Crime 13(3):176-190. Pires, Stephen F. and R.V. Clarke. 2012. Are Parrots CRAVED? An Analysis of Parrot Poaching in Mexico. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 49(1):122-146. Pires, Stephen F. and R.V. Clarke, 2011. Sequential Foraging, Itinerant Fences and Parrot Poaching in Bolivia. British Journal of Criminology 51:314–35. Pires, Stephen F. and William D. Moreto. 2011. Preventing Wildlife Crimes: Solutions That Can Overcome the ‘Tragedy of the Commons.’ European Journal of Criminal Policy and Research 17(2): 101-123. Tilley, Nick and Gloria Laycock. 2002. Working Out What to Do: Evidence-Based Crime Reduction. Crime Reduction Research Series Paper 11, London:Home Office. Wortley, Richard and Lorraine Mazerolle (Eds.). 2008. Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis. New York: Routledge.