Police Incidents Research Articles

The hidden impact of alcohol on young victims: an analysis of police-related alcohol offences resulting in hospitalisation

BackgroundAlcohol-related harm (ARH) remains a significant public health concern, particularly affecting young individuals who are disproportionately impacted. This study focuses on the often-overlooked impact of alcohol on young victims involved in alcohol-related police incidents resulting in hospitalisation. While existing research often centres on the drinker, this study explores the characteristics of both offenders and victims, analysing offence types and investigating the under-ascertainment of ARH in hospital records. MethodsOur research, conducted as a retrospective longitudinal study in Western Australia, utilises linked data from hospital admissions, emergency department (ED) presentations, and police incident records. The study includes 22,747 individuals aged 12–24 involved in alcohol-related police incidents between 2004 and 2015. ResultsFemale victims were 10 times more likely than males to be involved in alcohol-related police incidents, while women had a 2 times higher likelihood of undiagnosed alcohol-related hospital admissions than men. Aboriginal people were overrepresented as both offenders and victims. ED presentations and hospital admissions were prevalent, with head injuries being the most common outcome. Notably, 71% of victims hospitalised did not receive an ARH diagnosis. Conclusions A noticeable gap exists between hospital admissions associated with alcohol-related incidents and cases officially classified as ARH in the hospital system. This difference points to a more significant issue of substantial under-ascertainment or insufficient identification of ARH than previously acknowledged. Our study emphasises the need for targeted interventions, collaborative efforts between health and justice agencies, and ongoing research to address the hidden impact of alcohol on young victims.

Evaluating the impact of public housing after prison for a sex offence

This article evaluates the impact of housing assistance on the post-release pathways of people convicted of sex offences, in terms of a range of criminal justice outcomes and associated costs. Using linked administrative data from New South Wales government agencies, it compares outcomes and costs for two groups of formerly incarcerated sex offenders – one group who received public housing tenancies at some stage after their release, the other who only received private rental assistance. We find the public housing group had better criminal justice outcomes (e.g. fewer police incidents, court appearances, proven offences, days in custody and days on community-based orders) than the non-public housing group, achieved mostly at less cost to governments. The evidence, likely applicable in other jurisdictions with similar housing systems, strongly supports the increased provision of social housing to this group of ex-prisoners and, we hope, helps disarm the controversy that affects this area of policy in Australia and internationally.

The hidden impact of alcohol on young victims: an analysis of alcohol-related police offences resulting in hospitalisation

BackgroundAlcohol-related harm (ARH) is a significant public health concern affecting young individuals, particularly those involved in alcohol-related police incidents resulting in hospitalisation. However, the impact of alcohol on young victims remains under researched. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of offenders and victims involved in these incidents, analyse the types of offences, and understand the under-ascertainment of ARH in hospital records.MethodsA retrospective longitudinal study of 12–24-year-olds born between 1980 and 2005 was conducted using linked data from hospital admissions, emergency department presentations, and police incident records. Alcohol-related incidents were identified based on the attending officers’ opinions in the Western Australia Police’s Incident Management System (IMS). Logistic and log-binomial regression were utilised to analyse the factors associated with victimisation and under-ascertainment of ARH.ResultsOur study included 22,747 individuals (11,433 victims and 11,314 offenders) involved in alcohol-related police incidents, with a small majority of victims being female (53%, n = 6,074) and a large majority of offenders being male (84.3%, n = 9,532). Most victims did not receive a diagnosis of ARH (71%, n = 760). Women were 10 times more likely to have been a victim in ARH police incidents and 2 times more likely to have an undiagnosed alcohol-related hospital admission than men. Victims and offenders predominantly came from disadvantaged areas and major cities. Aboriginal individuals were overrepresented as both offenders and victims. A significant proportion of individuals experienced emergency department presentations or hospital admissions, with head injuries being the most common. Assault causing bodily harm was the most prevalent offence resulting in hospitalisation (66%, n = 2,018).ConclusionsThere is a noteworthy disparity between the quantity of hospital admissions attributed to alcohol-related incidents and the number of cases that are formally classified as ARH in the hospital system. This disparity highlights a more profound issue of substantial under-ascertainment or inadequate identification of ARH than previously acknowledged. Our findings justify the prioritisation of prevention strategies, beyond improvement in the documentation of alcohol-related hospitalisation. Considering the scale of the problem, and the underestimation of the burden of alcohol-related hospitalisation, a proportional increase in investment is necessary to achieve population-level reductions in ARH.

Understanding Ethnic Disparities in Lethal Police Incidents in the Netherlands Between 2016 and 2020

This Research Note outlines a novel approach to studying the role of ethnicity in lethal police incidents (LPI). We take data from the Netherlands, between 2016 and 2020, to show—first—that the representation of individuals with minority ethnic backgrounds in LPI is 350% of what would be expected based on their proportion of the population. Comparisons with other indicators (prison population; homicide) showed that the proportion of individuals with minority ethnic backgrounds was particularly high in outcomes that meet two conditions: (1) the outcome is more serious (vs. less serious), and (2) the authorities are involved (vs. not involved). These findings generate relevant recommendations for future work on lethal police incidents.

What do you see? Understanding perceptions of police use of force videos as a function of the camera perspective.

Some research suggests that video-recorded police incidents may be subject to a camera perspective bias. This study examined whether the camera angle of a recorded police use of force encounter influenced interpretation of the video. Participants (n=330) viewed a video-recorded simulated use of force scenario in one of four camera angle conditions (body worn camera, bystander camera, security camera, all three camera angles), and then rated the conduct of the police officer and the subject. Participants' attitudes towards the police and legal system were also examined. Results indicated that camera angle did not directly impact viewers' judgment of the scenario, but pre-existing biases about the police guided their interpretations of certain camera angles. Importantly, however, this was not the case for those who viewed the body worn camera angle. These results help us understand the implications of relying on video recordings of police incidents.

Divergent perspectives: autistic adults' perceptions of the police

PurposeMuch of the current criminological research regarding police and the autistic community focuses on police training for interacting with autistic individuals or the experiences, fears and perceptions of parents or caregivers. Largely absent from the criminological research are the opinions and perceptions of autistic adults. The purpose of the paper is to examine perceptions of the police and police-led initiatives among these individuals.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyze data from 121 autistic adults regarding their perceptions of the police and police-led autism awareness efforts using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Variables of interest include perceptions of procedural justice, police treatment of autistic individuals, fear of interacting with police and perceptions of police autism awareness campaigns.FindingsFindings indicate that autistic respondents vary in perceptions of the police. Prior negative experiences with police have a stronger influence on perceptions than do positive experiences. Support for awareness campaigns is also varied.Originality/valueDespite high-profile police incidents involving autistic individuals, there have been no empirical examinations of autistic adults' global perceptions of the police or police-led autism awareness campaigns. The current study addresses that oversight by directly examining autistic adults' perceptions. The approach is particularly salient given the ongoing police public scrutiny surrounding officer interactions with individuals from special populations, which is largely uninformed by research centering the voices of impacted individuals.

Association of Residence in High–Police Contact Neighborhoods With Preterm Birth Among Black and White Individuals in Minneapolis

Police contact may have negative psychological effects on pregnant people, and psychological stress has been linked to preterm birth (ie, birth at <37 weeks' gestation). Existing knowledge of racial disparities in policing patterns and their associations with health suggest redesigning public safety policies could contribute to racial health equity. To examine the association between community-level police contact and the risk of preterm birth among White pregnant people, US-born Black pregnant people, and Black pregnant people who were born outside the US. This cross-sectional study used medical record data of 745 White individuals, 121 US-born Black individuals, and 193 Black individuals born outside the US who were Minneapolis residents and gave birth to a live singleton at a large health system between January 1 and December 31, 2016. Data were analyzed from March 2019 to October 2020. Police contact was measured at the level of the census tract where the pregnant people lived. Police incidents per capita (ie, the number of police incidents divided by the census tract population estimate) were dichotomized into high if the value was in the fourth quartile and low for the remaining three quartiles. Preterm birth status was based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) code. Preterm infants were those with ICD-10-CM codes P07.2 and P07.3 documented in their charts. Of 1059 pregnant people (745 [70.3%] White, 121 [11.4%] US-born Black, 193 [18.2%] Black born outside the US) in the sample, 336 White individuals (45.1%) and 62 Black individuals who were born outside the US (32.1%) gave birth between the ages of 30 and 34 years, while US-born Black individuals gave birth at younger ages, with 49 (40.5%) aged 25 years or younger. The incidence of preterm birth was 6.7% for White individuals (50 pregnant people), 14.0% for US-born Black individuals (17 pregnant people), and 5.7% for Black individuals born outside the US (11 pregnant people). In areas with high police contact vs low police contact, the odds of preterm birth were 90% higher for White individuals (odds ratio [OR], 1.9; 95% CI, 1.9-2.0), 100% higher for US-born Black individuals (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.8-2.2), and 10% higher for Black individuals born outside the US (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0-1.2). Secondary geospatial analysis further revealed that the proportion of Black residents in Minneapolis census tracts was correlated with the number of police incidents reported between 2012 and 2016 (P = .001). In this study, police contact was associated with preterm birth for both Black and White pregnant people. Predominantly Black neighborhoods had greater police contact than predominantly White neighborhoods, indicating that Black pregnant people were more likely to be exposed to police than White pregnant people. These findings suggest that racialized police patterns borne from a history of racism in the United States may contribute to racial disparity in preterm birth.

Urban Road Accident Black Spot Identification and Classification Approach: A Novel Grey Verhuls–Empirical Bayesian Combination Method

The identification and classification of accident black spots on urban roads is a key element of road safety research. To solve the problems caused by the randomness of accident occurrences and the unclear classification of accident black spots by the traditional model, we propose a method that can quickly identify and classify accident black spots on urban roads: a combined grey Verhuls–Empirical Bayesian method. The grey Verhuls model is used to obtain the predicted/expected numbers of accidents at accident hazard locations, and the empirical Bayesian approach is used to derive two accident black spot discriminators, a safety improvement space and a safety index (SI), and to classify the black spots into two, three, four and five levels according to the range of the SI. Finally, we validate this combined method on examples. High-quality and high-accuracy data are obtained from the accident collection records of the Ningbo Jiangbei District from March to December 2020, accounting for 90.55% of the actual police incidents during this period. The results show that the combined grey Verhuls–Empirical Bayesian method can identify accident black spots quickly and accurately due to the consideration of accident information from the same types of accident locations. The accident black point classification results show that the five-level rating of accident black points is most reasonable. Our study provides a new idea for accident black spot identification and a feasible method for accident black spot risk level classification.

Police Fatal Force and Crime Reporting: A Test of Community Responses to Fatal Police-Civilian Encounters

Public perceptions of police legitimacy and effectiveness have been challenged by recent high-profile use of fatal force incidents by the police. Prior scholarship suggests that that controversial incidents involving police use of force can engender distrust of the police. Further, the neighborhood effects literature has demonstrated the importance of community context for police-community relationships and differential responses to controversial incidents by neighborhoods. The current study assesses how communities of varying racial compositions and levels of economic disadvantage respond to police fatal force incidents by assessing neighborhood crime reporting behaviors. Using monthly 911 call data from Los Angeles, CA neighborhoods, this study explores this relationship with a series of fixed effects negative binomial regression models that model police homicides and crime reporting over a seven-year time period. Comparisons between neighborhoods of varying racial/ethnic composition and structural conditions permit the comparison of differential responses across neighborhood context. The results indicate that neighborhood crime reporting decreases following fatal police use of force incidents. Further, these responses varied across neighborhood contexts. Predominately Hispanic neighborhoods experienced greater declines in crime reporting compared to predominately White neighborhoods. Neighborhoods characterized by high levels of concentrated disadvantaged also experienced greater reductions in crime reporting compared to their more advantaged counterparts. Utilization of the formal legal system can be challenged by controversial police incidents; however, these effects are dependent on neighborhood context. Future research should explore how spatial proximity and media portrayal of incidents influence community responses.

Mental health-related police incidents: Results of a national census exercise in England and Wales.

The level of mental state incidents dealt with by police and the police resource involved is under-researched, often giving rise to un-evidenced claims around demand, response and resources. The 2019 National Police Chiefs' Council and College of Policing definition of such incidents provides a useful basis for more accurate calculation: 'Any police incident thought to relate to someone's mental health where their vulnerability is at the centre of the incident or where the police have had to do something additionally or differently because of it'. To establish the nature and frequency of incidents involving the police when mental state is a primary reason for the involvement. In this mixed methods study, we first analysed data from records in two mixed inner city/urban/rural forces and one large multi-local authority metropolitan force. Secondly, we made an in-depth analysis of a sample of mental state-related incidents (n=320) in two of these forces. Thirdly, we took a 24-hour snapshot of all such incidents in England and Wales. Mental state-related incidents accounted for 5.1% of recorded police contacts from the public, rising to just 7.8% when confining attention only to contacts that generated a police response beyond taking the call and recording it. Length of time between an incident being reported and first response was similar between mental state-related and non-mental state-related incidents, but response to closure time was shorter for the former. While incidents relating to mental state problems do consume police resources, they do not represent disproportionate demand in terms of numbers or time spent. That said, only about a quarter of the police work recorded was related to possible crimes, and the possibility of conflating perception of wider social need with mental state problems may further account for an apparent mismatch between the perceived and actual proportion of the workload spent on these incidents.

Automatic textual description of interactions between two objects in surveillance videos

The purpose of our work is to automatically generate textual video description schemas from surveillance video scenes compatible with police incidents reports. Our proposed approach is based on a generic and flexible context-free ontology. The general schema is of the form [actuator] [action] [over/with] [actuated object] [+ descriptors: distance, speed, etc.]. We focus on scenes containing exactly two objects. Through elaborated steps, we generate a formatted textual description. We try to identify the existence of an interaction between the two objects, including remote interaction which does not involve physical contact and we point out when aggressivity took place in these cases. We use supervised deep learning to classify scenes into interaction or no-interaction classes and then into subclasses. The chosen descriptors used to represent subclasses are keys in surveillance systems that help generate live alerts and facilitate offline investigation.

Identifying Risk Factors for Re-admission: A Service Evaluation from an Adult Inpatient Mental Health Unit

AimsTo identify risk factors for re-admission to an acute inpatient general adult mental health ward. There is need to ensure that mental health services adapt to the increasing demand for inpatient bedsMethodWe conducted a single centre retrospective analysis of electronic records of 85 discharges from an adult mental health unit from 4th March 2019 – 5th August 2019. We collected information on demographics, admission details, substance use, forensic history, diagnosis as per the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition (ICD-10), and discharge details and compared two cohorts; those re-admitted within three months of discharge and those who were not. Odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence intervals (CI) and p values were calculated where possible.ResultAmong seventeen service users who were re-admitted within the three month period there were nine women and eight men. There was no difference in ethnicity, employment or marital status. The mean length of admission for those readmitted was 48.2 days (range 1–140 days) and 47.1 days (range 1–350 days) for those who were not readmitted. Certain features were more prevalent among the readmitted group including forensic history (58.8% [10] vs 26.5% [18], OR 3.97, CI 1.31–11.9, p value 0.007), substance misuse history (70.6% [12] vs 55.9% [38], OR 1.89, CI 0.60–5.97, p value 0.138), previous contact with mental health services (100% [17] vs 76.5% [52]) and the rate of detention under the Mental Health Act at point of admission (76.5% [13] vs 66.2% [45], OR 1.66, CI 0.49, 5.67, p value 0.209).Among those readmitted, a diagnosis of emotionally unstable personality disorder (17.6% [3] vs 10.3% [7], OR 1.87, CI 0.43,-8.14, p values 0.203) and substance misuse disorder (41.2 % [7] vs 17.6 % [12], OR 3.27, CI 1.04–10.31, p value 0.218) were more prevalent. They were more likely to use illicit substances whilst they were an inpatient (23.5% [4] versus 7.6% [5], OR 3.88, CI 0.92–16.43, p value 0.033) and to be involved in police incidents (35.3% [6] versus 17.6% [12], OR 2.55, CI 0.79–8.23, p value 0.059).ConclusionOur trends demonstrate that people with substance misuse, emotionally unstable personality disorder and forensic history are more likely to be readmitted to an adult mental health inpatient unit. They were more likely to misuse illicit substances and be involved with police during admission.

Acute and Chronic Stress in Daily Police Service: A Three-Week N-of-1 Study

On duty, police officers are exposed to a variety of acute, threatening stress situations and organizational demands. In line with the allostatic load model, the resulting acute and chronic stress might have tremendous consequences for police officers’ work performance and psychological and physical health. To date, limited research has been conducted into the underlying biological, dynamic mechanisms of stress in police service. Therefore, this ecological momentary assessment study examined the associations of stress, mood and biological stress markers of a 28-year-old male police officer in a N-of-1 study over three weeks (90 data points). Four times a day (directly after waking up, 30 minutes later, 6 hours later, before going to bed), he answered questions about the perceived stress and mood using a smartphone application. With each data entry, he collected saliva samples for the later assessment of salivary cortisol (sCort) and alpha-amylase (sAA). In addition, data was collected after six police incidents during duty. sCort and sAA were not related to perceived stress in daily life and did not increase in police incidents. Regarding mood measures, deterioration of calmness, but not valence and energy was associated with perceived stress. The results suggest continued police service to constitute a major chronic stressor resulting in an inability to mount a proper response to further acute stress. As an indicator of allostatic load, psychological and biological hyporesponsivity in moments of stress may have negative consequences for police officers’ health and behavior in critical situations that require optimal performance. Prospectively, this research design may also become relevant when evaluating the efficacy of individualized stress management interventions in police training.

Police Exposure As a Determinant of Structural Racism: An Exploration of the Association between Preterm Birth in Neighborhoods with High Police Exposure

Research ObjectiveIn the United States, Black infants are twice as likely than their white counterparts to experience preterm birth (PTB)—an inequity that has existed for decades. Forms of structural racism such as residential segregation have recently been associated with PTB. Segregated communities are often disproportionately exposed to police contact. Little is understood about how simply living in a community that experiences disproportionate police contact may impact PTB. Our objective is to assess whether high exposure to police contact is associated with PTB.Study DesignNeighborhood police exposure was measured at the census tract level with police incident data extracted from the Minneapolis Police Incident Report (2012‐2016). The 5‐year cumulative count of police incidents of all offense types was calculated for each census tract. This cumulative count ranged from 10 to more than 9000 incidents during these 5 years which likely reflects heterogeneity in neighborhood vigilance or that census tracts with a larger number of residents were more likely to have more police incidents. To account for the latter, we categorized each census tract into neighborhoods with high (fourth quartile) vs low (first to third quartile) police exposure and included census tract population estimate as a covariate along with marital status, maternal age at the time of delivery, insurance status, diagnosis of diabetes (prepregnancy and gestational), and hypertension. All population estimates were from the 2016 American Community Survey 5‐year estimates. We mapped 5‐year cumulative police incident count and proportion of Black residents to visually assess relationships. We also test for correlation of the incident count and the proportion of Black residents. To examine the association between the neighborhood police exposure and PTB, we constructed multivariate multilevel generalized linear regression models, adjusting for correlated data of women who lived in the same census tract, and estimated robust standard errors with the sandwich estimator.Population StudiedThe analytic sample included Black and White women who gave birth to live singletons from January 1 to December 31, 2016 and lived in one of the 116 census tracts that make up the City of Minneapolis plus the 15 bordering census tracts.Principal FindingsWhen the measure of neighborhood police exposure, census tract population estimate, and the woman’s racial group were regressed on PTB, we observed an 83% increase in the odds of PTB among those who resided in the neighborhood with high police exposure relative to those in the low exposure neighborhood (OR = 1.83, CI: 1.01‐3.32). When maternal and census tract median household income was controlled for, we observed a slightly larger magnitude of our association of interest (OR = 1.99, CI: 1.00‐3.96).ConclusionsA high level of neighborhood police exposure increases the risk of PTB among women of all racial groups. However, since neighborhoods with greater proportion of Blacks residents are more likely to be policed, the higher incident of PTB among Black than White women may be attributed to racialized pattern of exposure rather than differential effect between the two groups.Implications for Policy or PracticePolice contact, specifically routine stops conducted by police departments as a crime deterrent measure, may impact health outcomes.Primary Funding SourceUniversity of Minnesota Institute for Diversity, Equity and Advocacy Multicultural Research Award.

“I'm a police officer not a social worker or mental health nurse”: Online discourses of exclusion and resistance regarding mental health‐related police work

AbstractDespite estimates suggesting that around 15% of UK police incidents involve people with a mental health concern, officers receive very little mental health training. The police have faced high‐profile criticisms over their handling of mental health‐related incidents, whereas the underfunding and fragmentation of UK mental health services has led to concerns that police officers are being forced to undertake a primary role in mental health care. At a time of austerity and widespread cuts to public services, it is important to explore how particular groups work to justify the parameters of their professional duties. This article therefore explores the discourses surrounding mental health problems on an online police discussion forum, highlighting two distinct ways in which mental health‐related work is represented as being incompatible with policing. First, mental health problems are delegitimised and conflated with “scrounging,” positioning individuals as undeserving of police time; second, mental health problems are reified and associated with violence and extreme behaviour, justifying the use of force by police officers and deflecting responsibility onto mental health services. Findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that mental health work is not perceived to be a valid part of the police role.

Formal Social Control in Changing Neighborhoods: Racial Implications of Neighborhood Context on Reactive Policing

Public reports to the police are a key component of the formal social control process and have distinct interracial dynamics. This study examines the relationship between incident severity, neighborhood context, and participant race and patterns in the determination of probable cause and arrest in reactive police contacts. We utilize a complete record of police incidents in Seattle, Washington from 2008 through 2012 including information on race of reporters and targets and type of offense. These data are matched to longitudinal tract–level census data to evaluate how incident outcomes relate to neighborhood change. Results indicate that black targets are more frequently subject to arrest overall, particularly in changing neighborhoods and when reporters are white. For nuisance crimes such as public disturbances, probable cause is found more often for white reporters but less often in changing neighborhoods.

A systematic review of co-responder models of police mental health \u2018street\u2019 triage

BackgroundPolice mental health street triage is an increasingly common intervention when dealing with police incidents in which there is a suspected mental health component. We conducted a systematic review of street triage interventions with three aims. First, to identify papers reporting on models of co-response police mental health street triage. Second, to identify the characteristics of service users who come in to contact with these triage services. Third, to evaluate the effectiveness of co-response triage services.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review. We searched the following databases: Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, EBSCO CINAHL, Scopus, Thompson Reuters Web of Science Core Collection, The Cochrane Library, ProQuest National Criminal Justice Reference Service s, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, EThoS, and OpenGrey. We searched reference and citation lists. We also searched for other grey literature through Google, screening the first 100 PDFs of each of our search terms. We performed a narrative synthesis of our results.ResultsOur search identified 11,553 studies. After screening, 26 were eligible. Over two-thirds (69%) had been published within the last 3 years. We did not identify any randomised control trials. Results indicated that street triage might reduce the number of people taken to a place of safety under S136 of the Mental Health Act where that power exists, or reduce the use of police custody in other jurisdictions.ConclusionsThere remains a lack of evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of street triage and the characteristics, experience, and outcomes of service users. There is also wide variation in the implementation of the co-response model, with differences in hours of operation, staffing, and incident response.

What do police do and where do they do it?

Recent research in the economics of policing has been concerned with what the police do and how much time they spend on those activities. Some of this research has highlighted that, based on the number of incidents, “crime” comprises only ∼ 20% of the police workload with much of the remaining 80% addressing public safety concerns. In this article, we deconstruct the nature of police incidents within a suburban city. We show that police expenditures, relative to the entire municipal budget, have been relatively constant over 30 years and that the volume of police activity has also remained relatively constant, although with a slight increasing trend. We show that the most of the decrease in crime can be attributed to population growth in this suburban city and that the places in which the police undertake different activities vary.

What came first: the police or the incident? Bidirectional relationships between police actions and police incidents

ABSTRACTThe present research examines the long-term, bidirectional relationships between calls for service, crime, and two police patrol strategies in Santa Monica, California: foot patrol and police stops. Using nine years of monthly data (2006–2014), we estimate two sets of block-level, longitudinal models to tease apart these relationships. In our first set of models, we use police actions and calls for service in the preceding month(s) to predict crime in the subsequent month. In our second set of models, we use calls for service and crime in the preceding month(s) to predict police actions in the subsequent month. We find that while changes in calls for service and crime often precede changes in police action, changes in crime also tend to follow them. For example, police stops appear to be particularly receptive to burglary: blocks with more burglaries receive greater numbers of police stops, and blocks with more police stops have reduced odds of experiencing burglary. We also find that the length of effects of predictors varies as a function of predictor and outcome: whereas some predictors exhibit short temporal effects (e.g. one month), other predictors exhibit much longer temporal effects (e.g. twelve months). Our results thus provide important insight into the spatial and temporal relationships between police actions and police incidents. Police actions must be neatly tailored to police incidents at precise levels if long-term deterrent effects at these levels are to be achieved.

The importance of gender in the spatial distribution of police interactions involving emotionally disturbed persons: an examination of call types

ABSTRACTThe current study investigates gender differences in the spatial distribution of the British Columbia Mental Health Act (MHA), criminal and non-criminal police calls-for-service involving emotionally disturbed persons (EDP). Using a sample of 4341 police incidents over a three-year period, 13 pairwise spatial comparisons of similarity were completed across four dimensions: Mental Health Act events, criminal and non-criminal events, and gender. Results indicate that the locations in which EDP intersect with police services are spatially concentrated, and the spatial patterns differ depending on whether the events are calls that fall under the Mental Health Act, criminal, or non-criminal in nature. When considering the gender component, findings indicate that the locations of Mental Health Act calls are the most spatially distinct between males and females. Findings further emphasise that EDP are involved in many different types of contacts with the police, most of which are apprehensions under the British Columbia Mental Health Act, followed by criminal and non-criminal interactions. From a spatial perspective, the findings also highlight the need to differentiate between genders as well as event types to improve police resourcing and better guide situational crime prevention efforts.