Now You See Me, Now You Don’t: The Geography of Police Stops

This paper uses state police stop data in Texas to assess patrol activity. We find that both the types of stops and allocation of resources over space change in darkness relative to daylight, and that the changes in stop type and manpower allocation are correlated within police officers. We also fin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AEA papers and proceedings 2019-05, Vol.109, p.143-147
Main Authors: Kalinowski, Jesse J., Ross, Matthew B., Ross, Stephen L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
RACE AND POLICING
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Summary:This paper uses state police stop data in Texas to assess patrol activity. We find that both the types of stops and allocation of resources over space change in darkness relative to daylight, and that the changes in stop type and manpower allocation are correlated within police officers. We also find that the counties receiving more police resources in darkness have a higher share of minority residents. Veil of Darkness (VOD) tests of racial discrimination in traffic stops require that the distribution of motorists be independent of darkness, which is unlikely to be the case without detailed geographic controls.
ISSN:2574-0768
2574-0776
DOI:10.1257/pandp.20191026