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“This is my Rifle” - On US Police Militarisation and Crime

Author

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  • Roesti, Matthias

Abstract

I examine the effect of local police militarisation on violent crime using evidence from the 1033-programme in the US. Exogenous cost shifters due to the particular logistics of the programme are exploited to instrument for the amount of equipment received by local law enforcement. The results do not support previous county-level studies, who find strong and consistent negative effects on crime. I show that those findings are likely based on a combination of (i) inconsistencies in the underlying data and (ii) limited comparability of different subsamples. Accounting for these factors, I find only weak evidence of a negative impact on violent crime – notably for more rural areas, which form a majority of US counties. For this subsample, the results do not support the notion that military equipment enhances the effectiveness of enforcement agencies: if anything, arrests fall while any resulting crime reduction is of negligible economic significance.

Suggested Citation

  • Roesti, Matthias, 2020. "“This is my Rifle” - On US Police Militarisation and Crime," Economics Working Paper Series 2017, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:usg:econwp:2020:17
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    File URL: http://ux-tauri.unisg.ch/RePEc/usg/econwp/EWP-2017.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ajilore, Olugbenga, 2017. "Is There a 1033 Effect? Police Militarization and Aggressive Policing," MPRA Paper 82543, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. D. Mark Anderson & Daniel I. Rees, 2015. "Deployments, Combat Exposure, and Crime," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(1), pages 235-267.
    3. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I., 2013. "Deployments, Combat Exposure, and Crime," IZA Discussion Papers 7761, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Police militarization; 1033-program; violent crime; police violence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy

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