Order Maintenance Policing Research Articles

Maintaining disorder: estimating the association between policing and psychiatric hospitalization among youth in New York City by neighborhood racial composition, 2006-2014.

To assess whether neighborhood-level measures of policing are spatio-temporally associated with psychiatric hospialization among adolescents and young adults in New York City, and whether this association varies by neighborhood racial composition. We derived population-based measures of policing from the New York City Police Department (NYPD), psychiatric hospitalization from Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) data, and socio-demographic data from the American Community Survey (ACS), aggregated by month and ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) from 2006 to 2014. Multi-level negative binomial regression models assessed hospitalization-time of youth aged 10-24 as the dependent variable and the rate of policing events as the primary independent variable, adjusting for neighborhood poverty, unemployment, and educational attainment. Multiplicative interaction was assessed between policing and tertiles of the percentage of Black residents. A total of 11,900,192 policing incidents and 2,118,481 person-days of hospitalization were aggregated to 19,440 ZCTA-months. After adjusting for neighborhood-level sociodemographic characteristics, an increase in one policing incident per 1,000 residents was associated with a 0.3% increase in the rate of youth psychiatric hospitalization time (IRR 1.003 [1.001-1.005]). Neighborhood racial composition modified this effect; not only was the rate of psychiatric hospitalization and policing higher in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of Black residents, but the association between these was also significantly higher in neighorhoods with a larger share of Black residents compared with predominantly non-Black neighborhoods. Neighborhoods experiencing higher rates of policing during the study period experienced higher burdens of psychiatric hospitalization among adolescent and young adult residents. This association was larger in neighborhoods of color which have been disproportionately targeted by "hot spot" and order-maintenance policing practices and policies.

Exploring Redevelopment and Police Presence in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Using Photovoice Methodology

The relationship between redevelopment and police presence is demonstrated in many neighborhoods by the influx of new residentsfrom suburban or rural areas and shifts in police response. As property values increase, police may prioritize order maintenance policing, also known as "broken windows" policing (Beck, 2020, p.247). This is disproportionately felt by Black and Brown residents who often suffer the consequences of rising costs, displacement, increased surveillance, and police presence. This paper explores the relationship between urban redevelopment and policing in one of the most popular neighborhoods in the borough of Brooklyn–Bushwick. As a socialwork researcher of color, I want to share the narratives that often go overlooked. I felt secure and empowered to conduct research and report my findings as a community member who is seeking to support and collaborate with my community. Photovoice allows me to do just this by highlighting the daily realities in my neighborhood. However, having more voices from long-term community members is imperative and will be essential in further exploration of this topic. Keywords: gentrification, redevelopment, policing, police presence, Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City, photovoice, etc.

Broken Windows and Community Social Control: Evidence from a Study of Street Segments

Objectives Broken windows theory identifies community social control as a central mechanism for controlling crime. In turn, controlling disorder is seen as the primary method that police or other government agents can use to strengthen community social controls. Our study examined the antecedents of informal community social control, measured as collective efficacy, at street segments. Methods This article leverages multi-wave primary data collection at 447 street segments in Baltimore, MD including official crime statistics, survey responses, physical observations, and systematic social observations. We used mixed-effects OLS regression models to examine antecedents of collective efficacy at the street-level. Results We find that social disorder and crime, rather than physical disorder, are the primary antecedents of collective efficacy at the street-level. We also find that fear of crime does not have a direct impact on collective efficacy. Conclusions Our study suggests that police and city government more generally should not look to controlling physical disorder as a means of increasing community controls. At the same time addressing social disorder is an important mechanism to bolster collective efficacy, though care is needed to avoid bias or backfire effects from aggressive order-maintenance policing.

Local cultures of control, order maintenance policing, and gentrification: A comparison of railway station districts in three German cities

ABSTRACT In recent years, many major German cities have expanded the capacity and legal authority of their municipal order enforcement services and order maintenance policing. The focal action points are central neighborhoods characterized by a concentration of social problems, reinvestment in the built environment, and prevailing feelings of insecurity and the need to improve the quality of life. This study explores the causes of local cultures of control and their relations to order maintenance policing and neighborhood change. We used a document analysis and guided interviews with experts in the railway station districts of Düsseldorf, Leipzig, and Munich. Our findings demonstrate how the local control habitus shapes neighborhood change while being shaped through neighborhood-specific demands for formal social control. Demands for order maintenance policing originate from both the supply (business people) and demand sides (new residents). Moral entrepreneurs convey such demands through the local political context.

Unpredictable and monetized contact with the police: Race, avoidance behaviors, and modified activity spaces

AbstractExponential growth in order maintenance policing and associated misdemeanor sanctions have led to disproportionate consequences for people of color. Using data from qualitative interviews with individuals in the metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, region, the current study documents the racialized and monetized nature of police contact. This work extends extant scholarship by considering how minor contact with the police shapes individual avoidance behaviors and activity spaces, places where people work and live. We consider how the combination of monetary sanctions, warrants, incarceration, and overpolicing in the region affects avoidance behaviors, particularly for people of color. Our findings suggest that the frequently unpredictable nature of police contacts and the parochial and often profit‐focused structure of policing organizations in the region leads individuals to modify the ways in which they move through the region and, for some, to isolate. Narratives reflect the need for constant calibration of behaviors and decisions, as well as the legacy that police contact and monetary sanctions can have on everyday routines.

COMMUNITY-BASED AND RESTORATIVE-JUSTICE INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE OVER-POLICING

COMMUNITY-BASED AND RESTORATIVE-JUSTICE INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE OVER-POLICING

POLICE REFORM IN DIVIDED TIMES

POLICE REFORM IN DIVIDED TIMES

Broken windows and order-maintenance policing in gentrifying Washington, DC

ABSTRACT The “broken windows” hypothesis has led to millions of citizen/police encounters through aggressive enforcement of minor infractions. Despite extensive research on the relationship between broken windows and crime, there is less research on whether police officers focus on areas with broken windows, and the few studies that exist have mixed findings. Another set of studies finds high levels of policing in gentrifying neighbourhoods. On the one hand, then, studies show there is more policing in neighbourhoods with visible signs of disorder as police departments that adhere to the tenets of broken windows policing would be likely to send officers to patrol areas with broken windows, litter, and unkempt lawns in an effort to prevent crime in these areas. On the other hand, as high-income people move into these neighbourhoods, the signs of disorder should dissipate. This raises the question: Is there more policing in neighborhoods with signs of physical disorder or in neighbourhoods with signs of reinvestment? We measure this using three data sources: 1) an original housing survey using Google Street View that evaluates the level of physical disorder; 2) geocoded data from the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department on stop and frisks; and 3) Census and ACS data on population characteristics. These data allow us to answer our research questions: Are residents more likely to be stopped and frisked in neighbourhoods with high levels of physical disorder? Or, conversely, are residents more likely to be stopped and frisked in neighbourhoods experiencing an in-migration of middle-class residents?

Broken Windows, Naloxone, and Experiments in Policing

The practice of equipping police officers with naloxone has generated controversy within the profession. I adjudicate the disagreement in this article. I diagnose the dispute as rooted in a philosophical account of professional, role-based obligations. Parties to the debate appear to agree that what the police are permitted to do is determined in part by the (disputed) essential goal of the police profession. Instead, I argue that we should make room for “experiments in working.” Finally, I argue that naloxone use by police is an experiment in working that falls squarely within the tradition of order maintenance policing.

Policing gentrification or policing displacement? Testing the relationship between order maintenance policing and neighbourhood change in Los Angeles

Urban scholars increasingly contend that local police departments play a central role in facilitating neighbourhood change. Recent critics warn that ‘order maintenance’ policing and other low-level law enforcement tactics are deployed in gentrifying areas to displace ‘disorderly’ populations. Despite influential qualitative case studies, there remains scant quantitative research testing this relationship, and few studies that evaluate the link between policing, displacement and gentrification. We address this lacuna, drawing on new citation data from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and employing a measure of neighbourhood change that focuses on the displacement of low-income residents. Examining policing patterns in 978 US Census tracts in Los Angeles over four years, our analysis reveals that tracts experiencing gentrification – defined as the simultaneous increase in non-poor residents and decrease in the number of people in poverty – experience a greater number of citations compared with other tract types. Similar patterns emerge in our analysis of citations that explicitly target homelessness and extreme poverty. In post-hoc analyses, we found that Census tracts characterised by a decrease in the number of people in poverty experienced greater numbers of total police citations and of citations targeting homeless individuals, compared with other tract types. These findings carry important theoretical implications for understanding the divergent manifestations of, and potential mechanisms driving, order maintenance policing. Methodologically, we contend that police citations provide a more precise measure of order maintenance policing compared with previous studies, and that classifying neighbourhoods in terms of relative displacement of residents in poverty provides much-needed interpretive clarity.

The policing of subway fare evasion in postindustrial Los Angeles

According to the postindustrial policing thesis, cities that use cultural development strategies to attract new residents and visitors rely on order maintenance policing tactics to reinforce middle-class perspectives of safety and civility. This study applies that thesis to understand how shifting social structural dynamics influence the policing of fare evasion across the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority subway system. In accordance with the postindustrial perspective, results indicate that order maintenance policing is most intense at stations located in gentrifying neighborhoods; and, at the average station this form of policing is overwhelmingly directed towards Black and Latinx riders. Collectively, study findings suggest that mass transit in gentrifying areas represents a disputed resource that is policed in the interests of urban revitalization. Moreover, this treatment of fare evasion joins a growing body of penal remedies that expands the sphere of public social control, and further marginalizes disenfranchised groups.

An Examination of Order Maintenance Policing by Business Improvement Districts

Despite their ability to improve public safety, research has often prioritized the central role of the police in order maintenance, frequently overlooking the activities of non-state organizations. The current study examines the role of one such security program, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). Specifically, it explores how BIDs’ security teams, also known as Public Safety Officers, enforce order within their local districts. Data were collected from 76 semi-structured interviews and 171 hr of participant observations within four different BIDs in the two American cities. Findings illustrate how study participants demonstrated their use of reporting, surveillance, and other behavioral strategies to establish order and themselves as guardians within their districts. Scholars’ disproportionate focus on the work of the police downplays the importance of private organizations. This study is an exploration into a piece of this larger order maintenance network.

From Insult to Estrangement and Injury: The Violence of Racist Police Jokes

This article examines racially derogatory police jokes, what we call “racist blue humor,” as discourse that negatively targets and ridicules racial and ethnic minorities as inferior, dangerous, or as objects of symbolic and cultural violence. We argue that racist blue humor fosters the social acceptability of prejudice and discrimination among officers, normalizing a culture of dehumanization that legitimizes structural and direct violence. We analyze illustrative cases of racist blue humor in the light of critical race theory, humor studies, and other work in behavioral science to elaborate this violence and its potential for harm across multiple contexts. Racist blue humor engenders legal estrangement, diminishes protection and representation in law, and heightens exposure to police and other state violence. We conclude with considerations for research and policy, including order-maintenance policing of racist blue humor.

Aggressive Policing and the Educational Performance of Minority Youth

An increasing number of minority youth experience contact with the criminal justice system. But how does the expansion of police presence in poor urban communities affect educational outcomes? Previous research points at multiple mechanisms with opposing effects. This article presents the first causal evidence of the impact of aggressive policing on minority youths’ educational performance. Under Operation Impact, the New York Police Department (NYPD) saturated high-crime areas with additional police officers with the mission to engage in aggressive, order-maintenance policing. To estimate the effect of this policing program, we use administrative data from more than 250,000 adolescents age 9 to 15 and a difference-in-differences approach based on variation in the timing of police surges across neighborhoods. We find that exposure to police surges significantly reduced test scores for African American boys, consistent with their greater exposure to policing. The size of the effect increases with age, but there is no discernible effect for African American girls and Hispanic students. Aggressive policing can thus lower educational performance for some minority groups. These findings provide evidence that the consequences of policing extend into key domains of social life, with implications for the educational trajectories of minority youth and social inequality more broadly.

“Order as well as Decency”: The Development of Order Maintenance Policing in Black Atlanta

In 1971, Ebony magazine named Atlanta the country’s “new Black Mecca,” citing its black political and economic leadership as well as the success of black businesses in the city. At this same time, however, Atlanta, like cities around the country, experienced rising crime rates and economic decline in its urban core. This article examines how Atlanta’s black political leaders, supported by both white and black business owners, responded to the crime crisis by privileging the preservation of order and the protection of capital in their public safety policies. It suggests that this commitment to orderliness, often overlooked in examinations of black political culture, undergirded black political leaders’ advocacy of punitive crime control procedures in the postcivil rights era. Analyzing how black political officials and property owners advocated for intensified foot patrol policing and public decency legislation, this article argues that the city’s black political class were early theorizers and codifiers of order maintenance, or “broken windows,” or still “quality-of-life” policing. Consequently, black business owners and municipal officials sanctioned the expansion of police power in low-income urban neighborhoods in the postcivil rights era.

Mimicking ‘broken windows’ policing in post-soviet cities: expanding social control in uncertain times

ABSTRACTKazakhstan and Ukraine are the two latest adopters of the broken windows theory of policing first applied in New York City in the 1990s. Both countries embraced the practice despite its declining popularity and widespread criticism in the West. This article explores why and how broken windows policing is mimicked in both countries’ largest cities – Almaty and Kyiv. It shows that there are striking similarities in how various order-maintenance policing initiatives rose to prominence in Western urban areas and later in the post-Soviet context. The expansion of the middle class and the rapidly changing demography of urban areas due to socio-economic transformations popularised this norm-setting style of policing. By expanding policing of disorderly behaviours, both countries also tried to mould the type of citizens appropriate for a state with grand geopolitical ambitions. Kazakhstan and Ukraine sought to improve their regional and global rankings by creating a more orderly domestic environment.

Dispossession by Accumulation: The Impacts of Discretionary Arrests in New York City

Low-income people of color have been shown to experience disproportionate stops, ticketing, and arrests within an order maintenance policing (OMP) approach to urban law enforcement. A small but growing number of studies have begun to explore the complex lived experience of police encounters within this approach—an important task given the significant consequences of such policing for individuals and communities. This article examines qualitative and quantitative data on incidents of discretionary arrest for low-level offenses, with a focus on young people of color. In-depth, semistructured interviews and focus groups, as well as structured interviews outside criminal courts across New York City, were conducted, offering insight into the scope and depth of impact that OMP has on communities of color. The authors’ analysis underscores how OMP can shift relationships to public space in ways that foster fear and social isolation, examines the varied responses of young people to an unwanted criminal identity, and suggests the importance of recognizing the cumulative nature of OMP’s collateral consequences.

Broken and Disordered: Selected Critical Readings on Broken Windows Policing

ABSTRACTBroken windows policing came of age when one of the nation's largest and most high-profile police departments began to systematize the philosophy as part of order maintenance policing. This bibliography, comprised primarily of selected readings critical of the phenomenon, not only illustrates the depth and breadth of the criticism of specific order maintenance methods but questions much of the “proof” of their effectiveness. Book-ending the critiques are readings that articulate the founding “broken windows” theory, and cases that provide the legal framework for this particular intersection between social norms theory and law.

The Effect of Order-Maintenance Policing on Serious and Non-Serious Crime: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment

This paper presents quasi-experimental evidence on the effect of order-maintenance policing on both serious and non-serious crime. In 1997, the New York City Police Department engaged in a nine-month ticket-writing slowdown in response to a long and contentious wage contract negotiation. As a result of this labor action, parking, traffic, and criminal summonses fell by 51, 42, and 23 percent respectively. Drawing on several different data sources, I use this exogenous variation in summons-writing to empirically test whether serious and non-serious crimes are deterred by low-level, order maintenance policing. I find that, citywide, complaints for both serious and non-serious crimes increased during the slowdown period. However, a borough-by-borough comparison of crime rates during the slowdown period reveals that the patrol boroughs that participated the most in the ticket-writing slowdown experienced statistically indistinguishable increases in crime when compared to the boroughs that participated the least. These results suggest that order-maintenance policing does not have an effect on either serious crime or on non-serious crime.

Coffee Shops and Street Stops: Policing Practices in Gentrifying Neighborhoods

This article presents an empirical analysis of the postindustrial policing hypothesis, which argues that as cities pursue growth strategies designed to appeal to members of the so-called “creative classes,” they increasingly adopt punitive policing strategies, such as order maintenance policing. While several studies offer some evidence for the hypothesis, no study has yet tested the most direct spatial implication of this hypothesis within cities: that areas of a city undergoing gentrification or revitalization will evince higher levels of postindustrial policing. In a series of spatial Durbin models that utilize newly available data sets from New York City, this article demonstrates a strong positive association between gentrification and postindustrial policing. The article also finds that citizen demand for postindustrial policing is only weakly associated with its spatial distribution. These results and their potential implications are discussed in the conclusion.