Proactive policing and traffic disturbances: A quasi-experiment in three Israeli cities

Abstract

This paper describes a quasi-experimental evaluation of a reform in Israel (‘EMUN’), which attempted to institutionalize problem-oriented policing on a national scale. The current study examines the effect of this reform on tackling traffic disturbance and road bullying offences. We compared three police stations that chose to deal with traffic offences using the tools and techniques provided through the reform (treatment stations) with five police stations that were matched - using a specially designed algorithm - on several criteria, including similar trends of traffic offences (comparison stations). Each treatment station was compared to two comparison stations using a difference-in-differences approach. In five out of six comparisons there were large and significant reductions in documented traffic disturbances in the targeted areas of the treatment stations compared to the control stations. We also found evidence of significant diffusions in crime control benefits in two of the treatment stations. However, there was evidence of significant geographical displacement to the buffer zone in the largest treatment stations. We attribute this to differences in the nature of the areas targeted and discuss the relative harms and benefits. The findings of the study show that institutionalizing a variety of evidence-based policing strategies has a promise not only for classic crimes (such as property and violence), but also for incivilities and quality-of-life offenses.