ShareThisThe classical music blaring from speakers mounted on the light posts in a Seattle parking lot keeps Richelle Reason walking. She never stops to hear the next song in the storefront symphony.
"It's kind of annoying," she said of the music in the Saar's Market Place parking lot.
That's exactly the point.
In the past, crowds of up to 25 people would hang out in the lot, which became the site of drug dealing, fights and police responses, according to Patrick Senn, store director at Saar's Market Place.
"But now, people just come and go," said Donna Fischer, a cashier at the store.
The market started using classical music three years ago to repel loiterers and vandals and Senn said it appears to be working -- since he began playing the music he hasn't called police to the lot as much.
Businesses and transportation systems use classical, opera and country music as a crime-fighting tool around the globe.
Several Canadian cities began pumping classical and opera music from speakers in public places, such as subway platforms, to keep people from loitering. London plays classical music in 65 of its Underground stations, drawing compliments from some commuters and transit workers, according to a Transport for London spokeswoman.
The trend is part of a larger scheme of environmental design aimed at keeping crime away, said Jacqueline Helfgott, chairwoman of the criminal-justice department at Seattle University.
It's grown mostly through word-of-mouth because businesses are looking for creative solutions to crime, she said. "It's changing the nature of the environment so people make other decisions than committing crimes."
The reason certain types of music work as a crime deterrent, neurologists say, may lie in neurobiological responses to things that people don't enjoy or find unfamiliar. Production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to pleasure and rewards, is modulated by the nucleus accumbens, one of the brain's "pleasure centers."
When people hear music they like, it stimulates dopamine production and puts them in a better mood. When they dislike the music, their brains respond by suppressing dopamine production, souring their mood and making them avoid the music.
Norman Middleton, senior producer of concerts and special projects at the Library of Congress, said he believes the method derives from the "Muzak" concept, and is used as a mood-altering device. "Cops and other security entities somehow got the idea to use it in a reverse-psychology way," he said.
Daniel Levitin, professor of psychology and neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, and author of "This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession," said the musical mind games are similar to the way department stores use different genres in each department to attract diverse demographics.
He said he believes the use of music as a crime-fighting tool is a simple but ingenious concept.
But Levitin cautioned about being elitist or ethnocentric in linking good behavior with classical music and other fine arts. "I think hip-hop or R&B or heavy metal, in the right circumstances, can make someone feel kind, sensitive or inspired," he said.
When classical and opera music was tested as an anti-crime utility in Canada, some classical and opera enthusiasts decried its use.
But Bryan Lowe, programming director at classical-radio station KING 98.1 FM, said he isn't offended when opera and classical music are used to deter crime since it also exposes people to fine arts who might not stop to listen otherwise.
"And isn't that a nice side-benefit?" he asked.
Reach Phillip Lucas at plucas(at)seattletimes.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
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