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

Author

Listed:
  • Jesse J. Kalinowski
  • Matthew B. Ross
  • Stephen L. Ross

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesse J. Kalinowski & Matthew B. Ross & Stephen L. Ross, 2019. "Now You See Me, Now You Don't: The Geography of Police Stops," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 143-147, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:109:y:2019:p:143-47
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191026
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grogger, Jeffrey & Ridgeway, Greg, 2006. "Testing for Racial Profiling in Traffic Stops From Behind a Veil of Darkness," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 101, pages 878-887, September.
    2. Jesse Kalinowski & Stephen L. Ross & Matthew B. Ross, 2017. "Endogenous Driving Behavior in Tests of Racial Profiling in Police Traffic Stops," Working Papers 2017-017, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    3. William C. Horrace & Shawn M. Rohlin, 2016. "How Dark Is Dark? Bright Lights, Big City, Racial Profiling," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(2), pages 226-232, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Abrahams, Scott, 2020. "Officer differences in traffic stops of minority drivers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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