Larry T. Hoover

Police response to domestic violence: multilevel factors of arrest decision

Purpose – Police factor in extra‐legal as well as legal context in their decision to arrest a suspect. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of extra‐legal factors at both situational and neighborhood levels.Design/methodology/approach – Using hierarchical generalized linear modeling, over 9,000 domestic violence cases across 421 census tracts in Houston, Texas were examined. Situational information was derived from police reports, and neighborhood factors were measured by population characteristics drawn from the US Census Bureau. The model also controls for spatial autocorrelation of arrest rates between census tracts in the estimation of officers arrest decision.Findings – At the neighborhood level, concentrated disadvantage and immigration concentration had positive effect on the odds of arrest. At the situational level, the time of day, day of the week, premise type, and gender and racial relations between suspect and complainant, along with offense type and weapons use, had significant...

An Evaluation of Compstat’s Effect on Crime: The Fort Worth Experience

Compstat as a policing strategy became popular following the significant crime reduction in New York City during the 1990s. As an innovative management strategy in policing, Compstat attracted considerable attention from scholars and police practitioners. Despite its popularity, little empirical research has scientifically evaluated the effectiveness of the Compstat strategy. In addition, few studies have concentrated on Compstat strategies implemented during the 2000s outside New York City. This study examines the effectiveness of Compstat as implemented by the Fort Worth (Texas) Police Department (FWPD). Using monthly time-series arrest and crime data over a multiyear period, the study examines whether Compstat engendered a significant increase in “broken windows” arrests (minor nuisance offenses) and, using multivariate time-series analysis, the role of the Compstat strategy in explaining changes in violent, property, and total index crimes. Findings indicate that the implementation of Compstat significantly increased some types of broken windows arrests in the FWPD whereas others decreased. Analysis indicates significant decreases in property and total index crime rates after controlling for rival factors, but fails to show a significant change in violent crime rates. If the Fort Worth strategic approach to Compstat had to be described with a single word, it would be focusing. The Queensland study of Compstat also reported using a problem-oriented intervention model—focusing—in lieu of a broken windows approach (Mazerolle, Rombouts, & McBroom, 2007). Property crime was significantly reduced in both settings. Parallel findings from two differently constituted Compstat programs on two different continents provides evidence that the primary component of the Compstat model is focusing, not broken windows enforcement, and the primary impact is on property crime.

From Police Administration to Police Science: The Development of a Police Academic Establishment in the United States

The police academic establishment began in the United States with an emphasis on the principles approach to administration as defined by O. W. Wilson. It evolved with the field over the last 50 years. Each decade has lent distinctive characteristics to its development. Four changes are necessary for its evolution into a genuine science of policing: launching of systematic strategy research; separation of evaluation of strategy from political or social advocacy; inculcation of respect for police scientists who have preceded—particularly O. W. Wilson; and adoption of an open-minded, scientifically neutral approach to assessing what works in policing. The physical sciences provide an appropriate model in this respect.

Police Response Time to In-Progress Burglary A Multilevel Analysis

The need for rapid response has been a perennial issue in policing. Although several studies have examined the effect of response time on apprehension probability, little attention has been given to the relationship between police response time and community characteristics. Using 2007 call for service data from the Houston Police Department and 2000 census statistics, the current study examines the relationship between police response time to in-progress burglary calls and neighborhood characteristics. In addition, the effects of incident characteristics on the likelihood of arrest are examined. The results suggest that disadvantaged neighborhoods enjoy a shorter police response whereas rapid response increases the probability of in-progress burglary apprehension.

Extent of Citizen Contact With Police

At the core of community policing approaches is expanded citizen interac tion. Yet, little data exists regarding the extent and nature of citizen con tact with the police. This research examines the experiences of a random sample of Texas citizens and the effect the nature of their contact has on satisfaction with police response.

Profiling Weapon Use in Domestic Violence: Multilevel Analysis of Situational and Neighborhood Factors

Abstract The dangerousness of domestic violence escalates when suspects use weapons against victims or responding officers. Nevertheless, only a few studies have examined the dynamics of weapon use in domestic violence. While supporting the situational approach, the limited literature and relevant theories suggest the need for weapons classification and multilevel research. Using over 9,400 domestic violence cases across 423 census tracts that were responded to by the Houston Police Department in 2005, hierarchical linear models examine the correlates of weapon use by suspects. Results indicate that situational and neighborhood factors are distinctively associated with each type of weapon. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Dallas’ disruption unit: efficacy of hot spots deployment

Purpose – The majority of the previous research on hot spots policing focuses on a single set of relatively small selected experimental areas. However, given limited resources, most law enforcement agencies dispatch hot spots intervention units to several areas on a rotation basis. The purpose of this paper is to examine policing activities in hot spots to determine if the various types of crimes were affected when deployment was applied on a rotation basis.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses data from the Dallas Police Department. The differential influence of police activities, including stops, citations, and arrests, are observed against a number of aggregate crime measures (i.e. violent, property, nuisance offenses, and total index crimes). The impact of police activities have been observed for their immediate and lagged effects during the following week to measure residual deterrence effects.Findings – It was found that the DPDs Disruption Units hot spots policing immediately affected vio...

Police transformational leadership and organizational commitment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the relation between police transformational leadership and organizational commitment is mediated by organizational culture. Drawing on the competing values framework (Quinn, 1988), four types of cultural orientations (group, developmental, hierarchical, and rational) are analyzed. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 358 South Korean police officers are surveyed. Using competing values as multiple mediators, a parallel four mediator model is estimated. Bias-corrected bootstrapping methods are employed to consider the small sample size, as well as the possible non-normal distribution of specific indirect effects. Findings – The linkage between transformational leadership and commitment appears to be fully mediated by group culture. Interestingly, multiple individual officer characteristics, duty type, and departmental size do not impact respective constructs overall. Research limitations/implications – The use of cross-sectional data hinders cau...

Space–Time Clustering of Crime Events and Neighborhood Characteristics in Houston

Spatial–temporal interaction analysis is employed to identify repeat and near-repeat patterns of crime in time and space. Most research to date addresses burglary and shooting incidents. Using the Knox method for space–time interaction, this study analyzes crime data in 12 “super neighborhoods” located in Houston’s crime-heavy southwest quadrant to explore spatial–temporal clustering of three types of crime, namely, residential burglary, street robbery, and aggravated assault. The findings suggest that each type of crime event has a unique clustering signature. Residential burglaries show significant space–time clustering in a relatively longer time range (up to 90 days) and distance interval (up to 1.55 miles). In contrast, street robberies present significant clustering only up to 6 days and a quarter of a mile. For aggravated assault, the clusters of pairs occur within the interval of 7 days and within a little more than 1 mile of an initial assault. Examination of the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhoods indicates that crime events cluster more often in low income and racially/ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Significant spatial correlations of crime clusters are detected. The findings offer insight into potential suppression of crime events that are time and space correlated.

Geographic Information System Effects on Policing Efficacy: An Evaluation of Empirical Assessments

GIS technology is credited with substantially improving police crime analysis and related resource allocation. Although GIS has been said to be an efficient and effective technology in policing, limited empirical assessment has been conducted. An examination of functions and a review of the literature suggests four major applications of GIS in policing: computerized crime mapping/crime analysis; “hot spots†identification; improving command-level decision making; and geographical investigative analysis (primarily offender profiling). The primary objective of this qualitative review is to identify the extent of empirical evaluations of the effectiveness of a GIS. Although there is some research reference offender profiling, results are mixed. Only two empirical evaluations have been published that examine crime mapping, and both are limited to effects on perceptions. No empirical work links GIS to police deployment effectiveness.