Award Date

5-15-2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Sociology

First Committee Member

Christie Batson

Second Committee Member

Andrew Spivak

Third Committee Member

David Dickens

Fourth Committee Member

William Sousa

Number of Pages

186

Abstract

Objects: In this dissertation, I explore whether the use of motorized police saturation patrol in high crime neighborhoods negatively impacts citizen perceptions of police activity, opinions about the police, and perceived safety level. This research focuses on evaluating

whether or not any backfire effects were attributed to the use of the hot spot policing tactic. Methods: I report on survey data from the Smart Policing Initiative (SPI), which entailed face-to face interviews in 12 hot spot neighborhoods (n=1,005) (6 paired locations) as part of an evaluation from the SPI on the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Mobile Crime Saturation Team. The survey was administered immediately following the saturation team’s sixty-day deployment to each hot spot neighborhood pairs. Twenty-four hot spot neighborhoods were randomly assigned to either treatment of control locations. The impact to community perceptions by the police saturation patrol was assessed via three indexes and analyzed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models for each outcome measure. Results: Data analyzed from OLS regression models revealed no statistical significance concerning the association between saturation patrol and the outcome measures. With the addition of covariates, it was determined that saturation patrol made no difference concerning citizen perceptions on the outcome measures; rather, the results suggested that other factors served as better predictors. Conclusion: In this instance, police saturation patrol did not appear to be attributed to any backfire effects, as observed in Las Vegas.

Keywords

Boken Wndows; Criminology of Place; hot spot; hot spot policing; policing history; social disorganization

Disciplines

Criminology | Criminology and Criminal Justice | Urban, Community and Regional Planning | Urban Studies | Urban Studies and Planning

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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