Community Perspectives on Police Budgets: Results from a Survey Experiment

• In Event: Community Perspectives on Policing

Abstract

Despite ongoing debates about police funding, little research has examined public preferences for how police should allocate their time and resources. How do community members perceive the role of police, and how do their budgetary preferences compare to current spending practices? This study analyzes survey experimental data collected in Yonkers, New York, in 2021 to investigate public perceptions of local police budgets. We assess how residents believe police funding is currently distributed and how they think it should be allocated across different budgetary scenarios (reallocation, increase, or decrease). Additionally, we test whether providing information about the local police department’s budget shifts residents’ spending preferences.

Authors

• Paige Vaughn, University of South Carolina

• Kyle Peyton, Melbourne Institute; University of Melbourne