Disproportionate minority contact with the police: A service utilization analysis

• Main Author: Werling, Robert L
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2006
• Subjects: Criminology
• ISBN: 1109888988; 9781109888980

The literature pertaining to disproportionate minority contact by the police coalesces around two specific lines of thought. One describes the police as a racist, enforcement arm of the economic and political elite. The second line of thinking asserts that minorities are disproportionately involved in criminal activity and, consequently, holds disproportionate minority contact by the police to be the natural consequence of disproportionate criminality. This research explores a third possibility, namely, that policing is a social service and some people consume that service, along with other social services, at higher rates. The rates of calls for service to the police significantly affect deployment of police resources. If some neighborhoods call the police significantly more than others, those neighborhoods are likely to have police deployed in them significantly more than others. This assumption was borne out by the data. Comparing service utilization rates in the City of Houston across census tracts and service categories, this research reveals that areas of the community that disproportionately consume other social services also disproportionately call the police. Specifically, this study reveals patterns of fire and EMS service utilization by minorities that are comparable to their rates of police service utilization. The study also reveals that the pattern of police service over-utilization is similar to the pattern of over-utilization of public assistance.