The Impact of Private Policing on Crime

• In Event: Novel Approaches to Policing: Public and Private Police

Abstract

Both the United States government and private industry invest heavily in public safety and crime control. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were more people employed in professions with traditional policing functions by private enterprises than the state and local government on 2012. However, very little is known about the effectiveness of private police forces on crime. In this paper, we use conduct a study of the University of Chicago Police, one of the largest private police forces. We use a natural experiment, where the UCPD expanded its boundaries, and conduct a series of difference-in-difference analyses with a variety of comparison districts, to estimate the impact of adding additional private police services to a high crime neighborhood.

Authors

• Priscillia Hunt, RAND Corporation

• Jessica Saunders, RAND Corporation

• John MacDonald, University of Pennsylvania

• Paul Heaton, RAND Corporation