Comparing global spatial patterns of crime

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1097-1106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rémi Boivin ◽  
Silas Nogueira de Melo
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Point Pattern ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Police Data ◽  
Robust Version ◽  
Geographical Space ◽  
Street Segments

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the spatial patterns of different phenomena in the same geographical space. Andresen’s spatial point pattern test computes a global index (the S-index) that informs on the similarity or dissimilarity of spatial patterns. This paper suggests a generalized S-index that allows perfect similarity and dissimilarity in all situations. Design/methodology/approach The relevance of the generalized S-index is illustrated with police data from the San Francisco Police Department. In all cases, the original S-index, its robust version – which excludes zero-crime areas – and the generalized alternative were computed. Findings In the first example, the number of crimes greatly exceeds the number of areas and there are no zero-value areas. A key feature of the second example is that most street segments were free of any criminal activity in both patterns. Finally, in the third case, one type of event is considerably rarer than the other. The original S-index is equal to the generalized index (Case 1) or theoretically irrelevant (Cases 2 and 3). Furthermore, the robust index is unnecessary and potentially biased when the number of at least one phenomenon being compared is lower than the number of areas under study. Thus, this study suggests to replace the S-index with its generalized version. Originality/value The generalized S-index is relevant for situations when events are relatively rare –as is the case with crime – and the unit of analysis is small but plentiful – such as addresses or street segments.

The consequences of restricting police arrest authority: less deterrence and more crime

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott M. Mourtgos ◽  
Richard A. Wise ◽  
Thomas Petros
Keyword(s):  
Crime Rate ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Police Authority ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Criminal Suspects

Purpose Past research indicates that increasing police arrests deters crime. However, little research exists on how restricting police arrests affects crime. The purpose of this paper is to test whether restrictions on police authority to arrest affects deterrence and crime rates. Design/methodology/approach The data consisted of crime statistics for 105 criminal suspects from a medium-sized police department in the western USA. A 2×4 mixed analysis of variance compared the suspects’ criminal activity for a four-month period before and after the arrest restrictions were imposed to ascertain how they affected deterrence and crime rates. Findings The restrictions on police arrests significantly increased the crime rate. Moreover, the crime rate increased the longer the restrictions on police arrest authority were in effect. In sum, the present study provides empirical support for the hypothesis that restrictions on police arrest authority decrease deterrence and increase the crime rate. Practical implications The present study suggests that restrictions on police arrest authority decreases deterrence and may significantly increase the crime rate. The restrictions may also have deleterious effects on police departments. Several states have recently imposed restrictions on police authority to arrest, and many other states are considering implementing such restrictions. Policy makers should carefully consider the results of the present study before implementing these policies. Originality/value The study fills a void in the crime literature by demonstrating that restrictions on police authority to arrest can decrease deterrence and increase the crime rate.

scholarly journals Spatial point-pattern analysis as a powerful tool in identifying pattern-process relationships in plant ecology: an updated review

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariem Ben-Said
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Point Pattern Analysis ◽  
Point Pattern ◽  
Summary Statistics ◽  
Spatial Point Pattern ◽  
Spatial Point ◽  
Spatial Point Pattern Analysis

Abstract Background Ecological processes such as seedling establishment, biotic interactions, and mortality can leave footprints on species spatial structure that can be detectable through spatial point-pattern analysis (SPPA). Being widely used in plant ecology, SPPA is increasingly carried out to describe biotic interactions and interpret pattern-process relationships. However, some aspects are still subjected to a non-negligible debate such as required sample size (in terms of the number of points and plot area), the link between the low number of points and frequently observed random (or independent) patterns, and relating patterns to processes. In this paper, an overview of SPPA is given based on rich and updated literature providing guidance for ecologists (especially beginners) on summary statistics, uni-/bi-/multivariate analysis, unmarked/marked analysis, types of marks, etc. Some ambiguities in SPPA are also discussed. Results SPPA has a long history in plant ecology and is based on a large set of summary statistics aiming to describe species spatial patterns. Several mechanisms known to be responsible for species spatial patterns are actually investigated in different biomes and for different species. Natural processes, plant environmental conditions, and human intervention are interrelated and are key drivers of plant spatial distribution. In spite of being not recommended, small sample sizes are more common in SPPA. In some areas, periodic forest inventories and permanent plots are scarce although they are key tools for spatial data availability and plant dynamic monitoring. Conclusion The spatial position of plants is an interesting source of information that helps to make hypotheses about processes responsible for plant spatial structures. Despite the continuous progress of SPPA, some ambiguities require further clarifications.

Moving the needle: can training alter officer perceptions and use of de-escalation?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. White ◽  
Victor J. Mora ◽  
Carlena Orosco ◽  
E. C. Hedberg
Keyword(s):  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Officer Safety ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Before And After ◽  
June July ◽  
Officer Attitudes ◽  
Excessive Use Of Force ◽  
And Control

PurposeDe-escalation training for police has received widespread attention as a method for reducing unnecessary and excessive use of force. There is virtually no research on de-escalation, and as a result, there is little understanding about what it is, what it includes and whether it is effective. The current study compares attitudes about the importance and use of de-escalation among officers who were randomly assigned to participate (or not) in de-escalation training.Design/methodology/approachThe current study draws from a larger randomized controlled trial of de-escalation training in the Tempe, Arizona Police Department (TPD). Approximately 100 officers completed a survey in June–July 2019 and again in June–July 2020. TPD delivered the de-escalation training to half the patrol force in February–March 2020. The authors compare treatment and control officers' attitudes about the importance of specific de-escalation tactics, how often they use those tactics and their sentiments de-escalation training. The authors employ an econometric random-effects model to examine between-group differences post-training while controlling for relevant officer attributes including age, race, sex, prior training and squad-level pretraining attitudes about de-escalation.FindingsTreatment and control officers reported positive perceptions of de-escalation tactics, frequent use of those tactics and favorable attitudes toward de-escalation before and after the training. After receiving the training, treatment officers placed greater importance on compromise, and reported more frequent use of several important tactics including compromise, knowing when to walk away and maintaining officer safety.Originality/valueOnly a few prior studies have has examined whether de-escalation training changes officer attitudes. The results from the current study represent an initial piece of evidence suggesting de-escalation training may lead to greater use of those tactics by officers during encounters with citizens.

A qualitative and quantitative comparison between Web scraping and API methods for Twitter credibility analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irvin Dongo ◽  
Yudith Cardinale ◽  
Ana Aguilera ◽  
Fabiola Martinez ◽  
Yuni Quintero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Application Programming Interface ◽  
Extraction Methods ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Web Scraping ◽  
Shared Information

Purpose This paper aims to perform an exhaustive revision of relevant and recent related studies, which reveals that both extraction methods are currently used to analyze credibility on Twitter. Thus, there is clear evidence of the need of having different options to extract different data for this purpose. Nevertheless, none of these studies perform a comparative evaluation of both extraction techniques. Moreover, the authors extend a previous comparison, which uses a recent developed framework that offers both alternates of data extraction and implements a previously proposed credibility model, by adding a qualitative evaluation and a Twitter-Application Programming Interface (API) performance analysis from different locations. Design/methodology/approach As one of the most popular social platforms, Twitter has been the focus of recent research aimed at analyzing the credibility of the shared information. To do so, several proposals use either Twitter API or Web scraping to extract the data to perform the analysis. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations are performed to discover the advantages and disadvantages of both extraction methods. Findings The study demonstrates the differences in terms of accuracy and efficiency of both extraction methods and gives relevance to much more problems related to this area to pursue true transparency and legitimacy of information on the Web. Originality/value Results report that some Twitter attributes cannot be retrieved by Web scraping. Both methods produce identical credibility values when a robust normalization process is applied to the text (i.e. tweet). Moreover, concerning the time performance, Web scraping is faster than Twitter API and it is more flexible in terms of obtaining data; however, Web scraping is very sensitive to website changes. Additionally, the response time of the Twitter API is proportional to the distance from the central server at San Francisco.

Predictors of mercury spatial patterns in San Francisco Bay forage fish

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 2728-2737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben K. Greenfield ◽  
Darell G. Slotton ◽  
Katherine H. Harrold
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
San Francisco Bay ◽  
Forage Fish

Shift work and overtime across a career in law enforcement: a 15-year study

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-212
Author(s):  
Samantha M. Riedy ◽  
Desta Fekedulegn ◽  
Bryan Vila ◽  
Michael Andrew ◽  
John M. Violanti
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Shift Work ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Night Shift ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Work Hours ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Work Hours

PurposeTo characterize changes in work hours across a career in law enforcement.Design/methodology/approachN = 113 police officers enrolled in the BCOPS cohort were studied. The police officers started their careers in law enforcement between 1994 and 2001 at a mid-sized, unionized police department in northwestern New York and continued to work at this police department for at least 15 years. Day-by-day work history records were obtained from the payroll department. Work hours, leave hours and other pay types were summarized for each calendar year across their first 15 years of employment. Linear mixed-effects models with a random intercept over subject were used to determine if there were significant changes in pay types over time.FindingsA total of 1,617 individual-years of data were analyzed. As the police officers gained seniority at the department, they worked fewer hours and fewer night shifts. Total paid hours did not significantly change due to seniority-based increases in vacation time. Night shift work was increasingly in the form of overtime as officers gained seniority. Overtime was more prevalent at the beginning of a career and after a promotion from police officer to detective.Originality/valueShiftwork and long work hours have negative effects on sleep and increase the likelihood of on-duty fatigue and performance impairment. The results suggest that there are different points within a career in law enforcement where issues surrounding shiftwork and long work hours may be more prevalent. This has important implications for predicting fatigue, developing effective countermeasures and measuring fatigue-related costs.

VOICES: a theory-driven intervention for improving relationships between police and the public

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn Hill ◽  
Howard Giles ◽  
Edward R. Maguire
Keyword(s):  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Survey Responses

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a theory-driven intervention called VOICES that was developed to improve police-community relations. The intervention was designed based on principles derived from social psychological theories of intergroup contact and communication.Design/methodology/approachThe authors discuss the theoretical basis for the intervention, as well as its development and implementation in the Santa Barbara Police Department. Based on this pilot testing, the authors provide preliminary evidence about its effectiveness using survey responses and qualitative feedback provided by participants.FindingsAlthough the case study method used here does not allow for causal inferences about the effectiveness of the intervention, the limited evidence the authors present does suggest that participants found VOICES useful and it may have improved their perceptions of police. The next step will be to test this intervention using experimental or quasi-experimental methods that allow for causal inferences about effectiveness.Originality/valueThe paper shows how police can develop theory-driven interventions in an effort to improve trust between police and the public, including communities in which relationships with police have been historically strained. It also underscores how insights from the study of intergroup contact and communication can benefit policing.

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