The Localized and Diffuse Affects of Negative Interactions on Coproduction

• In Event: Co-production of Public Services

Abstract

Local government needs citizens to contact them when they need help. However, citizens do not always do so. We know that certain types of personal interactions with government turn the public away from engaging and that diffuse community contact has similar effects. However, we know little about how far-reaching the effects of such government contact can be on coproduction. Here we question this in the context of police killings and draw on theories of coproduction and theories of community-based policy feedback. Negative actions (e.g., police killings) may impact community coproduction in two ways: (1) killings send community-wide signals about the public’s worth vis-a-vis the state; (2) negative actions, even when indirectly experienced, challenge perceptions of government legitimacy. When police killings undercut legitimacy, the public should be less willing to coproduce public safety and other government activities. To test this hypothesis, we adopt a two-pronged approach. We first leverage data on police killings, 311 calls, and 911 calls from Los Angeles, California. We then turn to a survey experiment, where respondents read a short (fake) news story and then answer a battery of questions designed to tap the likelihood of engaging in coproduction. Together, these tests better isolate police killings as a central factor in coproduction. While focused on policing in the US, this study expands our understanding of: (1) how community, rather than personal, interactions with a local bureaucracy may inform coproduction; and (2) what forms of coproduction may be affected -- both those directly and indirectly related to public safety.

Authors

• Kelsey Shoub, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Cody Drolc, University of South Carolina