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Police Strikes and Conventional Crime
Author(s) -
PFUHL ERDWIN H.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1983.tb00276.x
Subject(s) - criminology , argument (complex analysis) , variation (astronomy) , order (exchange) , police department , psychology , political science , business , medicine , finance , physics , astrophysics
Employing FBI “Return A Record Card” data, this study examines the impact of municipal police strikes on reported rates of burglary, robbery, larceny, and auto theft in 11 U.S. cities. Relationships reflecting the view that police presence is essential for crime prevention and social order are examined for variation duration of police strike, city size, and offense category. Overall, analysis yields very limited support for the police presence argument, suggesting that strikes have neither a significant nor a systematic impact on rates of reported crime. Implications of findings for the formulation of police policy are discussed.