The effects of the Summer All Out Foot Patrol Initiative in New York City: a difference-in-differences approach
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The effects of the Summer All Out Foot Patrol Initiative in New York City: a difference-in-differences approach Thomas J. Bilach 1 & Sean Patrick Roche 2
& Gregory
J. Wawro 3
Accepted: 15 September 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Objectives The New York City Police Department’s “Summer All Out” (SAO) initiative was a 90-day, presence-based foot patrol program in a subset of the city’s patrol jurisdictions. Methods We assessed the effectiveness of SAO initiative in reducing crime and gun violence using a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach. Results Results indicate the SAO initiative was only associated with significant reductions in specific property offenses, not violent crime rates. Foot patrols did not have a strong, isolating impact on violent street crime in 2014 or 2015. Deployments on foot across expansive geographies also have a weak, negligible influence on open-air shootings. Conclusions The findings suggest saturating jurisdictions with high-visibility foot patrols has little influence on street-level offending, with no anticipatory or persistent effects. Police departments should exercise caution in deploying foot patrols over large patrol jurisdictions. Keywords Foot patrol . Policing . Deterrence . Difference-in-differences . New York City
The views and opinions expressed in this manuscript do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the New York City Police Department.
* Sean Patrick Roche [email protected]
1
New York City Police Department, New York City, NY, USA
2
School of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Texas State University, Hines Academic Center 112, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
3
Department of Political Science, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA
T. J. Bilach et al.
Introduction For decades, police departments have deployed high-visibility foot patrols (Ratcliffe et al. 2011; Rosenbaum and Lurigio 1994). There are several potential goals for such tactics: interpersonal reassurance of the general public, deterrence of would-be offenders, and a broader emphasis on standing as an emblem of public safety (Piza and O’Hara 2014; Ratcliffe et al. 2011; Wakefield 2007). Foot patrols have often been characterized by practitioners and laypersons as a “proactive, non-threatening, community-oriented approach” (Wakefield 2007: 343). Yet, empirical evidence linking the influx of uniformed foot patrols to measurable reductions in crime and disorder is mixed and often weak (Ratcliffe et al. 2011). Still, foot patrol is often presumed by strategic planners in law enforcement agencies to be a useful application of police resources (Cowell and Kringen 2016). In the spring of 2014, gun violence escalated in several jurisdictions throughout the city of New York. In response, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) instituted its first iteration of the “Summer All Out” (SAO) initiative, a 90-day intervention that deployed approximately 300 additional uniformed officers to several precincts and police service areas (PSAs) duri
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