Weapon ban zones (WBZs) are popular among practitioners and policymakers because of their symbolic impact on the public and their relative ease of implementation as hotspot policing tools. However, despite a large body of research on hotspot policing, the effectiveness of these zones remains unclear. Therefore, we examine whether introducing a WBZ in Leipzig, Germany, led to a reduction in crime or the spatial displacement of crime.

Research on how police appearance influences feelings of safety and fear of crime is limited and inconclusive, with most prior studies relying on field experiments that struggle with internal validity. This study uses a vignette survey experiment with 1,000 participants in Saxony to test how police uniform type, patrol gender composition, lighting conditions, and environmental decay shape public perceptions of safety, offering insights for evidence-based policing strategies.