Policing New York: The Distribution of Police Resources Through Deployment and Stops, 1988-2011

• In Event: Spatial Analysis of Racial Disparity in Stops, Arrest, and Crime in Big Cities

Abstract

Precinct-level data for New York City for the years 1988-2001 and tract-level data for New York City for the years 2006-2011 are used to examine the factors that influence the New York Police Department’s deployment of resources across the five boroughs, and the law enforcement actions the police take across the city. In particular, the paper examines the number of police assigned to each precinct (per capita) and the rate of arrests for felonies and misdemeanors in the first period and the number of stop and frisk encounters (per capita) in the second period. How are these rates influenced by the demographic composition of a precinct or tract, its socio-economic conditions, and the rates of reported crime? Do the police appear to be targeting high crime rate neighborhoods for intense police surveillance and law enforcement, or are they selectively targeting black and Latino populations for heavy-handed policing, above and beyond the levels anticipated from local rates of reported crime?

Authors

• Jessica Rose Kalbfeld, New York University

• David Greenberg, New York University