Safe consumption sites and crime

Here is a blog-style summary suitable for police leaders, public safety professionals, and practitioners.

Do Safe Consumption Sites Increase Crime? New York City Study Finds the Answer Is More Complicated Than Either Side Claims

Safe consumption sites (SCSs)—sometimes called overdose prevention centers—have become one of the most debated harm reduction strategies in the United States. Supporters argue they save lives by preventing fatal overdoses, while critics worry they may attract crime and disorder into already struggling neighborhoods.

A recent study by John Hall and Jerry Ratcliffe examined this question using crime data from New York City’s first two officially recognized safe consumption sites, located in Washington Heights and East Harlem. Their findings offer a nuanced perspective that should be of interest to police leaders, policymakers, and community stakeholders alike.

What Did the Researchers Study?

The researchers analyzed police-reported crime data before and after the opening of the two sites in November 2021. Rather than simply comparing crime levels before and after the sites opened, they used a sophisticated “synthetic control” methodology that created statistical comparison areas from other syringe service program locations across New York City. This approach allowed them to estimate what crime levels would likely have looked like had the sites never opened.

The study examined two broad categories of crime:

• Violent crime (including robbery and assaults)

• Property crime (including burglary, grand larceny, motor vehicle theft, and petit larceny)

The Most Important Finding: No Increase in Violent Crime

One of the clearest findings from the study is that neither safe consumption site experienced an increase in violent crime after opening. This result held across both neighborhoods and across multiple analytical tests.

For police executives and community leaders concerned that safe consumption sites might trigger increases in robberies, assaults, or other violent offenses, the evidence from New York did not support those fears.

A Different Story for Property Crime

The findings become more complicated when property crime is examined.

The East Harlem site showed no significant increase in either violent or property crime after opening. However, the Washington Heights site experienced a substantial increase in reported property crime. The researchers estimated that property crime increased by approximately 167% within 1,000 feet of the facility after it began operating as a safe consumption site. The increase remained statistically significant across several different distance measurements.

Importantly, this increase was driven largely by theft-related offenses, particularly shoplifting incidents.

Why Did One Site Experience Crime Problems While the Other Did Not?

The study’s most valuable contribution may be its explanation of why the two sites produced different outcomes.

The researchers found that a large Target store opened near the Washington Heights location shortly before the safe consumption site began operating. The store provided what criminologists call a highly attractive crime opportunity. In contrast, the East Harlem location lacked a similar nearby retail target.

The authors suggest that the issue may not have been the safe consumption site itself, but rather the interaction between the site and the surrounding environment. In other words, context mattered.

As the authors explain:

“This research contributes to our understanding of how SCSs impact neighborhoods, suggesting that their effect on neighborhood crime is not uniform and may be dependent on local context.”

This may be the most important takeaway from the entire study.

The Role of Police Presence

The researchers also identified another potentially important factor: police deployment.

According to NYPD data, directed patrol activity increased dramatically around the East Harlem site shortly after it opened, while patrol activity remained relatively stable around the Washington Heights location. The authors speculate that increased police visibility may have reduced opportunities for property crime in East Harlem and discouraged some of the negative spillover effects that critics often fear.

This finding suggests that the public safety impacts of safe consumption sites may depend not only on where they are located, but also on how they are managed and policed.

Practical Lessons for Police Leaders

Several practical implications emerge from this research.

First, police leaders should avoid assuming that safe consumption sites automatically increase neighborhood crime. The study found no evidence of increased violence and found different outcomes across two locations in the same city.

Second, site selection matters. Locating a facility near major retail establishments or other attractive crime targets may create opportunities for theft and shoplifting that would not exist elsewhere. Crime prevention considerations should be incorporated into site planning discussions.

Third, law enforcement deployment strategies may influence outcomes. The contrasting experiences of East Harlem and Washington Heights suggest that proactive patrol and problem-oriented policing strategies could help mitigate potential crime impacts while still allowing public health interventions to operate.

Finally, local context matters more than ideology. The study highlights the danger of making broad claims—either positive or negative—about safe consumption sites based on limited evidence. Different neighborhoods, environmental conditions, police strategies, and business environments may produce very different results.

Bottom Line

The New York City experience suggests that safe consumption sites are neither the public safety disaster feared by some critics nor a universally consequence-free intervention. The study found no increase in violent crime, no increase in crime around one site, and a significant increase in property crime around another site where environmental conditions may have created unique opportunities for theft.

For police executives, the key lesson is that safe consumption sites should be evaluated as place-based interventions. Their effects appear to depend heavily on local conditions, nearby crime opportunities, police responses, and neighborhood characteristics.

As communities continue debating overdose prevention strategies, this study reinforces a principle familiar to experienced police leaders: place matters, context matters, and effective policy requires looking beyond simple narratives.

Source: Hall, J.J., & Ratcliffe, J.H. (2025). Assessing the impact of safe consumption sites on neighborhood crime in New York City: A synthetic control approach. Journal of Experimental Criminology.