Police Deployment in New York City: Predictions for Stop, Question and Frisk Encounters

• In Event: Police Stop and Frisk Encounters with Citizens

Abstract

Patterns in policing have been examined through a number of frames, including broken windows and community disorder (Fagan and Davies 2000), racial threat (Etitle and Monahan 2009;), community crime involvement (Engel, Smith and Cullen 2012), and racial bias at individual or organizational levels (Rojek, Rosenfeld and Decker 2012). Utilizing a unique data set taken from residents in New York City, this research will investigate the relationship between individual and neighborhood characteristics and the number of stop and frisk encounters with law enforcement. The frameworks of social disorganization put forth by Shaw and McKay (1942) and the deployment hypothesis utilized by Engel, Smith and Cullen (2012) inform the selection of neighborhood characteristics. Using a multilevel Poisson model, I have investigated the role of individual and neighborhood characteristics in predicting the number of stops for individuals in New York City. Preliminary analyses indicate that the number of stops varies across zip codes in NYC; some zip codes may be targeted for higher police involvement. In addition, there are individual factors that are associated with an individual’s predicted number of stops such as gender, age, and race/ethnicity, as well as neighborhood factors such as survey-reported neighborhood crime levels, residential instability, and racial heterogeneity.

Author

• Elizabeth Straley, University of Nebraska - Lincoln