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Safety in Police Numbers: Evidence of Police Effectiveness from Federal COPS Grant Applications

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  • Emily K Weisburst

Abstract

Understanding the impact of police on crime is critical to designing policies that maximize safety. In this article, I use a novel estimation approach to measure the impact of police hiring, which exploits variation in federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring grants, while also controlling for the endogenous decisions of police departments to apply for these grants. Using data from nearly 7,000 U.S. municipalities, I find that a 10% increase in police employment rates reduces violent crime rates by 13% and property crime rates by 7%. The results also provide suggestive evidence that law enforcement leaders are forward-looking.

Suggested Citation

  • Emily K Weisburst, 2019. "Safety in Police Numbers: Evidence of Police Effectiveness from Federal COPS Grant Applications," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 21(1), pages 81-109.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:amlawe:v:21:y:2019:i:1:p:81-109.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/aler/ahy010
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    Cited by:

    1. Nicola Mastrorocco & Arianna Ornaghi, 2020. "Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States," Trinity Economics Papers tep0720, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2020.
    2. Anna Bindler & Randi Hjalmarsson, 2021. "The Impact of the First Professional Police Forces on Crime [State Capacity and Economic Development: A Network Approach]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(6), pages 3063-3103.
    3. Robynn Cox & Jamein P. Cunningham, 2021. "Financing The War On Drugs: The Impact Of Law Enforcement Grants On Racial Disparities In Drug Arrests," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 191-224, January.
    4. Cho, Sungwoo & Gonçalves, Felipe & Weisburst, Emily, 2021. "Do Police Make Too Many Arrests? The Effect of Enforcement Pullbacks on Crime," IZA Discussion Papers 14907, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Aaron Chalfin & Michael LaForest & Jacob Kaplan, 2021. "Can Precision Policing Reduce Gun Violence? Evidence from “Gang Takedowns” in New York City," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(4), pages 1047-1082, September.
    6. Federico Masera, 2022. "The economics of policing and crimeThe economics of policing and crime," Chapters, in: Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Vanin & Juan Vargas (ed.), A Modern Guide to the Economics of Crime, chapter 2, pages 12-29, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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