The Effect of the Police on Crime

Abstract

The effect of police practices on the rate df robbery in 35 large American cities is estimated by a set of simultaneous equations. The measures of police resources (patrol units on the street) and police activity on the street (moving citations issued) are more precise than. anything thus far available in studies of this kind and permit the use l" identification restrictions that allow stronger inferences about the causal effect of arrests on crime rates than has heretofore been possible. Police resources and police activity indeper'tdently affect the robbery rate after controlling for various socioeconomic factors. The political arrangements that lead to the use of aggressive patrol strategies are discussed and their effect estimated. The implications for, and limitations upon, policy are also discussed.

Mirage of Police Reform: Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy

“…Police claim that high levels of such police proactivity have crime-control benefits, and research tends to bear those claims out (Boydstun 1975; Sampson and Cohen 1988;Whitaker et al 1985; Wilson and Boland 1978; also see Cohen and Ludwig 2003;McGarrell et al 2001;Sherman and Rogan 1995;Rosenfeld et al 2014). But critics point to frequent violations of constitutional limits on police authority, and racially disparate impacts, as reasons to more closely regulate police-initiated contacts.…”

Criminal Deterrence: A Review of the Literature

“…15 Papers in this literature employ a wide variety of econometric approaches. Early empirical papers such as Ehrlich (1973) and Wilson and Boland (1978) focused on the cross-sectional association between police and crime. discussion in the literature was whether police reduce crime at all.…”

Local politics and police strength

“…He suggested that reform cities were more likely to adopt a legalistic style of policing because the political culture of the city suggested that the 'best' administrator should be hired for the job and then be left free of political interference. These professional managers were then likely to appoint police chiefs in favor of vigorous "professional" law enforcement (Wilson & Boland, 1978). The watchman style was more likely to be found in partisan cities with elected mayors and city councils, who were more susceptible to group interests.…”