Do police stations deter crime?

IF 3.1 Q1 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY
Rémi Boivin, Silas Nogueira de Melo
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Abstract

Abstract Purpose The introduction of community policing led to a significant increase in the number of police stations, particularly in urban settings. Police stations are largely assumed to have an impact on crime but there are few studies dedicated to the issue. Methods The concept of deterrence suggests a negative relationship between police and crime: an increased police presence should lead to a reduction of crime. While it is difficult to directly test that relationship, the present study takes advantage of two recent events in Montreal (Canada) to test the hypothesis that the closure of a police station causes an increase of crime in the surrounding area. Andresen’s Spatial point pattern tests and Wheeler and Ratcliffe’ weight displacement difference tests were conducted. Findings While tests suggest that crime geographic patterns were dissimilar pre- and post-closure, none of those differences support the deterrence hypothesis because the number of areas in which an increase in crime was recorded is lower than would be expected by chance. Similarly, decreases in breaking and entering, mischief, theft in or on vehicles and total crime were found, which does not support the deterrence hypothesis. Conclusions The study of hotspot policing led to the belief that police presence needs to be concentrated in both time and space if it is to have a significant preventive impact on crime. It also led to the development of strategies of concentrated policing that encompass a variety of prevention actions aimed at specific individuals, specific crime types, and/or specific areas. Police stations provide something different: a concentrated presence at one point location with the ability to deploy to respond to any crime, at any time, in a particular area.
警察局能阻止犯罪吗?
社区警务的引入导致警察局数量的显著增加,特别是在城市环境中。警察局在很大程度上被认为对犯罪有影响,但很少有研究专门针对这个问题。方法威慑的概念表明警察和犯罪之间的负相关关系:增加警察的存在应该导致犯罪的减少。虽然很难直接检验这种关系,但本研究利用最近在蒙特利尔(加拿大)发生的两起事件来检验一个假设,即关闭警察局导致周围地区的犯罪增加。采用Andresen的空间点模式试验和Wheeler和Ratcliffe的重量位移差试验。虽然测试表明,犯罪地理模式在关闭前和关闭后是不同的,但这些差异都不支持威慑假设,因为记录在案的犯罪增加的地区数量比偶然预期的要少。同样,非法闯入、恶作剧、车辆内或车辆上的盗窃和总犯罪也有所减少,这并不支持威慑假设。热点警务的研究使我们认为,要想对犯罪产生显著的预防作用,警察的存在需要在时间和空间上都是集中的。它还导致了集中警务战略的发展,其中包括针对特定个人、特定犯罪类型和/或特定地区的各种预防行动。警察局提供了一些不同的东西:在一个地点集中存在,能够在任何时候对特定地区的任何犯罪做出反应。
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来源期刊
Crime Science
Crime Science Social Sciences-Cultural Studies
CiteScore
11.90
自引率
8.20%
发文量
12
审稿时长
13 weeks
期刊介绍: Crime Science is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal with an applied focus. The journal''s main focus is on research articles and systematic reviews that reflect the growing cooperation among a variety of fields, including environmental criminology, economics, engineering, geography, public health, psychology, statistics and urban planning, on improving the detection, prevention and understanding of crime and disorder. Crime Science will publish theoretical articles that are relevant to the field, for example, approaches that integrate theories from different disciplines. The goal of the journal is to broaden the scientific base for the understanding, analysis and control of crime and disorder. It is aimed at researchers, practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in crime reduction. It will also publish short contributions on timely topics including crime patterns, technological advances for detection and prevention, and analytical techniques, and on the crime reduction applications of research from a wide range of fields. Crime Science publishes research articles, systematic reviews, short contributions and theoretical articles. While Crime Science uses the APA reference style, the journal welcomes submissions using alternative reference styles on a case-by-case basis.
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