Investing in police forces would lower the crime rate and cost of crime, according to a study conducted by the Center on Quality Policing of the RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment Center.
The six jurisdictions named in the study are Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and Miami-Dade County. The crime cost exceeded $1 billion annually in each county. Homicide generates the most expense, costing more than $8 million per case, the study reported. Victims bear 77 percent of tangible violent crime-cost, with taxpayers paying 14 percent, and employers covering the remaining 8 percent.
There are three primary methods used to estimate the cost of crime.
The first method, the accounting-based method, measures the cost of crime by attempting to identify the cost paid by individuals and society as a whole. These costs include installing lighting or other defense products, property loss, medical cost for injuries, investigations, prosecutions, and incarceration.
However, the Accounting method is deficient because it fails to account for intangible cast, such as the psychological effects of victimization. Failing to account for intangible cost leads to the underestimation of crime cost.
The second method, Contingent Valuation, is a survey-based strategy that elicits information about citizens’ willingness to pay for hypothetical programs that reduce crime.
Contingent Valuation, unlike the Accounting method, identifies the intangible cost of crime.
The Hedonic Valuation examines the relationships between neighborhood crimes and the housing prices within those neighborhoods to measure the value of the neighborhood. However, citing numerous methodological problems, the RAND study excluded all research results employing Hedonic Valuation.
There are four isolated factors used to identify the effects of increased police presence on crime rates and the subsequent cost of crime.
The first factor, hiring programs, increases police staff through federal initiatives and funding. The second factor, election cycles, found that police forces were significantly increased during state and local elections. The third factor, reallocation, is the increase of police presence do to circumstances such as terrorist threats. The final factor is the timing of police personnel changes. Personnel changes are a typical response to crime rates. When crime rates demonstrate a need for more police presence, departments respond by training new officers.
Over an 11-year period, spanning 2,074 U.S. cities, studies showed that a one percent increase in police staffing led to a decrease in violent crimes by one percent. Further, a 10 percent increase in police staffing generated a reduction of up to five percent, the RAND study said.
However, increased staffing does not impact rape or larceny rates, the study notes. Additionally, some police activities, such as excessive use of force or racial profiling, generate social costs, the study said.
