Increasing Police Presence in Neighborhoods: An Examination of Factors that Influence Support for Greater Presence

• In Event: Impacts of Increased Police Presence and Police Contacts

Abstract

The reallocation of policing resources to high crime areas, or hot spots, has gained recognition as a viable crime control strategy. One of the most commonly used tactics within hot spots is increasing police presence, however, not enough is known about how existing perceptions of police legitimacy and legal cynicism influence support for this strategy, and whether this support differs across racial/ethnic groups, neighborhood conditions, and socio-economic status. In order to gain a better understanding of these factors that may influence support for increasing the level of police presence, we perform a series of ordinary least squares regressions predicting support using survey data from a sample of 1000 adults obtained from a matched opt-in panel. Preliminary results suggest that those living in disordered neighborhoods were more likely to support increasing police presence, as well as those with greater trust in the police and obedience toward the police. Unexpectedly, race/ethnicity and legal cynicism were unrelated to support for greater police presence.

Authors

• Qassim Bolaji, University of South Carolina

• Christi S. Metcalfe, University of South Carolina