The Relationship Between Attributes of Police Agencies and Crime Rate, Arrest Rate, and Clearance Rate

• In Event: Policing via Data and the Internet: Impacts and Challenges

Abstract

While there has been widespread attention on the impact of police behavior and aggregate police presence (e.g., number of sworn officers) on crime in recent years, there has been a notable gap in research exploring the influence of police agency attributes on crime. This study aims to fill that gap by investigating how various attributes of police agencies (e.g., size, race and gender composition, attrition rate, salary, and training requirements, etc.) relate to crime, arrest, and clearance rates for each agency’s jurisdiction. Using data from the Florida Criminal Justice Agency Profile (CJAP) and Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data for Florida law enforcement agencies spanning from 2010 to 2020, panel models are estimated that explore between-agency and within-agency effects. The findings underscore the importance of police agency attributes with respect to crime and criminal justice processing and offer valuable insights into how agencies may better allocate resources and develop strategies to enhance police performance.

Author

• Nan Li, Florida State University