Collaborative Partnerships and Crime in Disorganized Communities

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02498.x
• Date: 01 March 2012
• Author: Sang Ok Choi,Cheon Geun Choi
• Published date: 01 March 2012

Cheon Geun Choi received his doctoral

degree from the Askew School of Public

Administration and Policy at Florida State

University. His research interests include

social capital, public safety, and public

management.

E-mail: cheongeun.choi@gmail.com

Sang Ok Choi (corresponding author)

is associate professor in the Department of

Public Administration at Korea University.

His current research focuses on the study

of interorganizational relationships and

collaborative partnership. His work has

appeared in the Public Administration

Review, American Review of Public

Administration, State and Local

Government Review, Administration

& Society, International Journal

of Public Sector Management,

International Journal of Emergency

Management, and Journal of

Homeland Security and Emergency

Management.

E-mail: sangchoi@korea.ac.kr

228 Public Administration Review • March | April 2012

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 72, Iss. 2, pp. 228–239. © 2012 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.111/j.1540-6210.2011.02498.x.

Cheon Geun Choi

Korean National Police Agency

Sang Ok Choi

Korea University

Collaborative partnerships can be an ef‌f ective strategy

for crime prevention, especially in disorganized

communities. Using ordinary least squares regression

with 414 American cities, this article f‌i nds that police

departments with many collaborative partnerships are

able to promote informal social control within their

communities and capitalize on the resources available

to them with the help of other groups.  is contention

is supported by the ef‌f ects of collaborative partnerships

on crime rates in disorganized

communities in comparison to

well-organized communities.

 us, collaborative partnerships

of public organizations with other

groups may insulate disorganized

communities from the ef‌f ects of

community disorganization on

levels of crime.

Public administration scholars have witnessed a

substantial change in academic and professional

interest from hierarchical government to col-

laborative governance (Agranof‌f and McGuire 2003;

Frederickson and Smith 2003; Kettl 2002; Lynn,

Heinrich, and Hill 2001; Provan and Milward 1995).

When the focus is on public safety, collaborative part-

nership as a basic component of community polic-

ing strategy has been developed widely in order to

establish cooperative relationships between police and

citizens to achieve the common purpose of creating

safe and sound communities (Bayley 1994; Kelling

and Moore 1988; Walker 1998). However, despite

much progress by researchers in conceptualizing “gov-

ernance” (Heinrich and Lynn 2000; Lynn, Heinrich,

and Hill 2001; Pierre and Peters 2000), and by prac-

titioners in implementing collaborative partnerships,

only limited empirical evidence exists on improving

governmental performance and outcomes (Frederick-

son and Smith 2003; Provan and Kenis 2007). Here

we explore the relationship between collaborative part-

nerships and crime rates, especially in disorganized

communities. By “collaborative partnership,” in which

our central interest lies, we mean a problem-solving

alliance between the police department and multiple

other parties, such as other government entities, busi-

nesses, nonprof‌i t organizations, communities, and/or

citizen groups.

Our basic premise is that a collaborative partnership

between government and other parties can account for

variations in crime rates that are not explained solely

by community disorganization, as in poverty-stricken,

racially segregated, and resi-

dentially instable communities

(Putnam 2000; Sampson and

Groves 1989; Sampson, Rau-

denbush, and Earls 1997; Shaw

and McKay 1942). We propose

that when police departments

work collaboratively with other

parties, it is likely that crime

rates will decrease.  e logic is

that collaborative partnerships for public safety draw

community resources into crime protection ef‌f orts

and boost informal social controls in disorganized

communities.  e governance approach suggests that

government agencies cannot easily solve “wicked”

problems by themselves and that working together

has a benef‌i cial ef‌f ect when it comes to dealing with

community issues and improving community capacity

(Bardach 1998; Huxham and Vangen 2000; Kettl

2002; Provan and Milward 1995). Furthermore, we

suggest that collaborative partnerships can buf‌f er dis-

organized communities from the ef‌f ects of crime rates.

Using ordinary least squares regression with 414

American cities, we studied the ef‌f ect of collaborative

partnerships on crime rates and the buf‌f ering ef‌f ect

between community disorganization and crime rates.

We found that police departments with many collabo-

rative partnerships are able to promote informal social

control within their communities and capitalize on

the resources available to them with the help of other

groups.  is study supports the f‌i nding that the ef‌f ects

of collaborative partnerships on crime rates are more

inf‌l uential in more disorganized communities.

Collaborative Partnerships and Crime in Disorganized

Communities

We propose that when

police departments work

collaboratively with other

parties, it is likely that crime

rates will decrease.