NCJ Number
147540
Journal
Public Finance Quarterly Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1994) Pages: 22-45
Date Published
1994
Length
24 pages
Annotation
The relationships among property crime, police policy, and allocation of police resources is examined.
Abstract
Data were collected from 296 jurisdictions in Florida. Many police officials have set policy based on the erroneous view that the drug-consuming population is also the property crime population, thus, increasing drug enforcement will decrease property crime. Evidence suggests that police have ample incentive to sustain this belief. Because resources are scarce, increasing drug enforcement reduce deterrence of other crimes, which means an increase in property crime rates, which in turn creates greater demand for police services and makes for a better case for budget increases. Further, police may capture rents by increasing drug enforcement. Increasing the number of drug arrests raises property crime rates, and both of these variables are positively correlated with police resources. 3 tables, 22 endnotes, 60 references