Abstract
This study assesses the social, political, economic, and traffic-/travel-related predictors of sworn highway patrol and state police strength in the United States between 1981 and 2015. Fixed-effects estimates based on analyses of 1,635 state-years indicate that theoretical accounts centered on racial threat theory, partisan politics, and gendered politics in part explain variation in this outcome. Findings suggest that changes in population density, the tax base, the percentage of the population without a high school degree, violent crime rates, and spending on social welfare at the state level, as well as shifts in local law enforcement strength, also influence state police and patrol organization strength over this period. Surprisingly, fluctuations in the number of state traffic fatalities per million vehicle miles traveled and the number of driver’s licenses per 100,000 state population—two seemingly important traffic-/travel-related factors—have no impact on the rate of state police and patrol officers per 100,000 population.
Highlights
This study assesses the social, political, economic, and traffic-/travel-related predictors of sworn highway patrol and state police strength in the United States between 1981 and 2015
Because this study examines the determinants of changes in state police organization strength over time, data for the independent and dependent variables consist of repeated observations at yearly intervals
Results from Model 9 indicate that state unemployment percentage and population density are negatively correlated with this outcome and that the percentage of the population without a high school degree is positively associated with state police and patrol organization strength
Summary
This study assesses the social, political, economic, and traffic-/travel-related predictors of sworn highway patrol and state police strength in the United States between 1981 and 2015. State-level police forces often manage and implement state-level counterterrorism efforts, coordinate responses to state disasters and emergencies, operate state crime labs, investigate major crimes, maintain state sex offender registries, and perform drug interdiction and traffic stops on state highways and roads (Cordner, Seifert & Ursino, 2014; Correia, Reisig & Lovrich, 1996; Foster & Cordner, 2005) The latter traffic enforcement efforts— while negatively viewed by individuals who receive citations (Correia et al, 1996)—are especially important to U.S public safety (DeAngelo & Hansen, 2014). An extensive review of the extant literature reveals that researchers have yet to examine whether this relationship applies to state police organization strength
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