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Do more eyes on the street reduce Crime? Evidence from Chicago's safe passage program

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  • McMillen, Daniel
  • Sarmiento-Barbieri, Ignacio
  • Singh, Ruchi

Abstract

Chicago's Safe Passage program attempts to ensure the safety of student traveling to and from schools by placing civilian guards along specified routes. The program was launched during the 2009-2010 school year and was expanded to 140 schools by 2015-16. We use data from more than 10 years of geocoded Chicago police reports and school level data to analyze the Safe Passage program's effects on crime rates and the rate of absenteeism from schools. Our findings suggest that the program is an efficient and cost effective alternative way of policing with direct effects on crime and student's outcomes. Exploiting both spatial and temporal variation in the implementation of the program, we find that the presence of guards results in lower levels of crime, with violent crime declining by 14% on average. The rate of absenteeism is estimated to decline by 2.5 percentage points. We find no evidence of spillovers of crime to areas that are not along the Safe Passage routes.

Suggested Citation

  • McMillen, Daniel & Sarmiento-Barbieri, Ignacio & Singh, Ruchi, 2019. "Do more eyes on the street reduce Crime? Evidence from Chicago's safe passage program," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-25.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:110:y:2019:i:c:p:1-25
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2019.01.001
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    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Law and Economics > Economics of Crime > Crime Prevention > Police Funding > Impact

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    Cited by:

    1. Nils Braakmann, 2022. "Does stop and search reduce crime? Evidence from street‐level data and a surge in operations following a high‐profile crime," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(3), pages 1370-1397, July.
    2. Sanfelice, Viviane, 2019. "Are safe routes effective? Assessing the effects of Chicago’s Safe Passage program on local crimes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 357-373.
    3. Kitchens, Carl & Wallace, Cullen T., 2022. "The impact of place-based poverty relief: Evidence from the Federal Promise Zone Program," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    4. Gonzalez, Robert & Komisarow, Sarah, 2020. "Community monitoring and crime: Evidence from Chicago's Safe Passage Program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Albouy, David & Christensen, Peter & Sarmiento-Barbieri, Ignacio, 2020. "Unlocking amenities: Estimating public good complementarity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    6. Nils Braakmann, 2023. "Residential turnover and crime—Evidence from administrative data for England and Wales," The British Journal of Criminology, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, vol. 63(6), pages 1460-1481.
    7. Federico Masera, 2022. "The economics of policing and crimeThe economics of policing and crime," Chapters, in: Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Vanin & Juan Vargas (ed.), A Modern Guide to the Economics of Crime, chapter 2, pages 12-29, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime; Police; Policy deployment; Public schools; Educational outcomes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy

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