How Elastic Are Preferences for Military Policing? Evidence from Colombia

• In Event: Policing the Americas

Abstract

Even though the rationale for military involvement in domestic policing is that the military is more effective than the police in deterring crime, observational and experimental evidence points to its ineffectiveness. Yet, despite this, nearly 60% of Latin Americans support the military’s participation in public safety. How can we account for such high levels of support for military policing, given the apparently weak or adverse effects associated with these interventions? Could it be because citizens believe so fully in the military that they do not blame the military for the ineffectiveness of military policing interventions? In other words, might citizen views on military policing be altogether inelastic? Based on nearly 8,000 responses to a survey experiment in Cali, Colombia, we find that views on military policing are less sensitive to information on performance than views on traditional policing. However, contrary to our expectations, they are not altogether inelastic. These findings provide new insights into how citizens respond to different crime-control strategies, how these strategies change state-citizen linkages, and attitudes toward security governance more broadly.

Authors

• Robert A. Blair, Brown University

• Michael Lee Weintraub, Universidad de los Andes

• Jessica Zarkin, Claremont McKenna College