Computing Crime: Information Technology, Police Effectiveness and the Organization of Policing

Luis Garicano and Paul Heaton

No 5837, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: How does information technology (IT) affect the organization of police work? How does it in turn affect police crime-fighting effectiveness? To answer these questions, we construct a new panel data set of police departments covering 1987-2003. We find that while IT adoption had substantial effects on a wide range of police organizational practices, it had, by itself, a negligible impact on crime-fighting effectiveness. These results are robust to various methods for controlling for agency-level characteristics and the endogeneity of IT use. We then suggest and test two explanations for this puzzle. First, we demonstrate that use of a particular technology, computerized record-keeping, increased recorded crime rates. Second, we provide evidence that IT investments only had a substantial impact on crime clearance rates and crime rates when undertaken as part of a broad set of complementary organizational practices such as those in the Compstat program.

Keywords: Information technology; Organization; Hierarchy; Skills; Police (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K42 L23 M5 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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