Gang crackdowns and offender centrality in a countywide co-offending network: A networked evaluation of Operation Triple Beam

Abstract

PurposeIn 2018, the US Marshals Service (USMS) and local law enforcement implemented “Operation Triple Beam” (OTB) in and around Houston, TX. While OTB has been touted as an exemplary initiative, its impact on offending and co-offending remains a mystery. Using over a decade of web-scraped arrest data from 16 law enforcement agencies I evaluate the impact of OTB on co-offending network involvement in Galveston County, TX. MethodsDifference-in-difference regression analysis is employed to assess change in centrality from the co-offending network preceding OTB to the network following OTB, relative to change over similarly structured networks in a randomly sampled control group drawn from the 7 years preceding OTB. ResultsArrest during OTB, to a greater extent than arrest during counterfactual periods, is associated with reductions in co-offending network involvement. The greatest reductions are observed in harmonic closeness and betweenness centrality. Further, OTB arrestees appear to have held co-offending network positions of greater prestige (eigenvector) when compared with the control group. ConclusionsConsistent with its goals, OTB appears to have targeted prominent offenders within the regional co-offending network. OTB appears to have been especially effective at damaging the involvement of the networks' brokers.