Exploring the Prevalence of Proactive Fugitive Apprehension Units in Large U.S. Cities

• In Event: Police Organization: Police Practice and Public Safety

Abstract

More than 1.4 million people in the United States had an active felony arrest warrant as of November 2021. Yet, despite the magnitude of the population, relatively little is known about how law enforcement agencies approach and pursue wanted persons. The current study uses publicly available data on local police departments in the 100 most populated U.S. cities to explore the prevalence of specialized proactive fugitive apprehension units. Descriptive methods and logistic regression are used to examine whether organizational characteristics and broader environmental factors are associated with the existence of specialized fugitive units within local agencies. The implications of these findings for crime control and delivering justice to crime victims are discussed.

Authors

• Minkyung Bae, Michigan State University

• Brandon Turchan, Michigan State University

• Vijay Chillar, University of Central Florida

• Jeremy Wilson, Michigan State University