Crime control effects of a police substation within a business improvement district: A quasi‐experimental synthetic control evaluation

• Author: Shun Q. Feng,Eric L. Piza,Nathan T. Connealy,Andrew P. Wheeler
• Date: 01 May 2020
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12488

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9133.12488

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

CRIME CONTROL AND RECIDIVISM

Crime control effects of a police substation within a

business improvement district: A quasi-experimental

synthetic control evaluation

Eric L. Piza1Andrew P. Wheeler2Nathan T. Connealy3

Shun Q. Feng3

1City University of New York

2University of Texasat Dallas

3City University of New York

Correspondence

Eric L. Piza, John JayCollege of Criminal

Justice,Haaren Hall, 636.15 524 W. 59th St.,

NewYork, NY 10019-1093.

Email:epiza@jjay.cuny.edu

Fundinginformation

ProfessionalStaff Congress-City University of

NewYork, Grant/AwardNumber: 68767-00 46

Thisresearch was funded by a grant from the

ProfessionalStaff Congress, City University

ofNew York (Award68767-00 46). An early

versionof this ar ticle waspresented at the 2017

Academyof Criminal Justice Sciences annual

conference.We thank those in attendance

fortheir thoughtful questions and feedback.

Wealso thank Anthony McMillan, Steven

Hillyer,Matthew Pietrus, Thomas Goletz,

andMbake Faye of the Newark Downtown

District and RichardWoods of the Newark

PoliceDepar tment forproviding the necessary

support and access to data fort his project.We

thank Captain IvonneRoman of the Newark

PoliceDepartment for helping us to understand

the origins and operations of the substation.

Research Summary: The current study analyzes the crime

reduction effect of a police substation operating within

a business improvement district in Newark, New Jersey.

Synthetic control methods were used to create a control

group that was statistically equivalent to the cumulative

street units in the target area. Significant reductions of bur-

glary and motor vehicle theft were observed in the tar-

get area as compared with a synthetic control area over

the postintervention period. Robbery and theft from auto,

conversely, suffered from spatial displacement. Of the six

police actions included in the process evaluation, quality-

of-life summonses and directed patrols increased in the

postintervention period, whereas parking summonses sig-

nificantly decreased.

Policy Implications: The results of this study suggest that

the effect of substations on crime likely depends on certain

contextual factors. Newark’s substation was not a stand-

alone facility, but the headquarters of a police unit given

jurisdiction over the target area. Therefore, the opening of

the substation represented an increase in visible police pres-

ence. The effect of the substation was heightened when

accompanied by increases in proactive policing activities.

Agencies wishing to effectively address robbery and theft

Criminology & Public Policy. 2020;19:653–684. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/capp © 2020 American Society of Criminology 653

654 PIZA ET AL.

from auto may haveto design substation strategies in a man-

ner that better influences offender decision-making to pre-

vent displacement.

KEYWORDS

crime prevention, police decentralization, police substations, quasi-

experiment, synthetic control

Over recent decades, the reactive strategies of policing’s professional era have slowly given way

to proactive strategies incorporating high levels of focus on identifiable problems, implementing a

diversity of approaches, and targeting places, not just people, for intervention (Lum & Koper, 2017;

Weisburd & Eck, 2004). Policing scholars, particularly those focused on community policing, have

argued that changes to the organizational structure of police agencies are needed to better facilitate the

delivery of such evidence-based practices (Cordner, 2005; Skogan,2019). Such organizational changes

can be accomplished through decentralized command structures that diffuse crime control responsibil-

ities throughout the agency. Decentralized command structures represent a stark contrast from the top-

down paramilitary structure that came to define policing during the professional era (Skogan, 2018).

A method of decentralization highlighted within the community police literature is the establishment

of police substations. Substations provide a decentralized structure, with commanders responsible for

a concise target area rather than the larger geographies that traditionally organize police services, such

as patrol divisions or precincts. The surrounding community may also influence the functions of a

substation. Relevant to the current study, a substation operating within a central business district must

address crime threats posed by an abundance of high-activity nodes while simultaneously responding

to calls for improved public safety from resident, commuter, and business communities (Haberman &

Stiver, 2018). Within such commercial areas, substations may operate in conjunction with business

improvement districts (BIDs) that can shift crime prevention from a purely police responsibility to

a collaborative function shared across public and private stakeholders. Similar to substations, BIDs

can promote a sense of geographic decentralization by focusing public safety efforts toward a specific

district within a jurisdiction. The decentralization afforded by substations and/or BIDs may also provide

necessary conditions for causal mechanisms of crime reduction to take hold. Police officers operating

within such a specialized area may be better positioned to conduct proactive activities than they would

be in a command primarily tasked with responding to citizen calls for service. Substations and BIDs

may further increase police presence and related crime prevention resources within high-crime places,

an approach with an established track record of success (Braga, Turchan, Papachristos, & Hureau,

2019; Skogan & Frydl, 2004).

The current study contributes to the literature through an evaluation of a substation opened by the

Newark, NewJersey Police Department (NPD) in a target area within the downtown district of the city.

Opening in September 2012, the substation was the outcome of a public/private partnership, with the

Newark Downtown District (NDD), the official BID of the area, funding the building renovations and

committing additional resources in the target area. The results suggest that the substation generated

mixed effects on crime. Significant reductions of burglary and motor vehicle theft were observed in

the target area as compared with a synthetic control area over the postintervention period. The effect

on motor vehicle theft was especially strong, extending throughout the entire 6-year postintervention

period and including a diffusion of benefits effect. Robbery and theft from auto, conversely, suffered

PIZA ET AL.655

from spatial displacement. Of the six police actions included in the process evaluation, quality-of-life

summonses and directed patrols increased over the last 3 years of the postintervention period, whereas

parking summonses significantly decreased over this same time period. This article concludes with a

discussion of the policy implications of the study’s findings. We begin with a review of the relevant

literature.

1REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

1.1 Decentralization and police substations

Many community policing advocates view structural changesin police organizations and decentralized

command structures fundamental elements of problem-solving (Gianakis & Davis, 1998; Maguire,

1997; Mastrofski, 1998; Redlinger, 1994). As explained by Skogan (2019, pp. 35–36), decentraliza-

tion can take two forms. The first, spatial decentralization, allocates responsibility for managing and

deploying crime-prevention resources to midlevel commanders in chargeof concise geographies. The

second, decentralized decision-making, affords midlevel commanders the discretion and authority to

devise and deploy strategies within the geography they oversee. A substation, by definition, achieves

spatial decentralization by granting a unit jurisdiction over an area typically smaller in scope than

police precincts or sectors. Whether decentralized decision-making occurs depends on the organiza-

tional structure of the substation. Decentralized decision-making is most prominent when a substation

commander enjoys autonomy in setting strategic priorities in her jurisdiction. When a substation com-

mander answers directly to the commander of a larger organizational unit, such as an encompassing

precinct, then the substation may not truly allow for decentralized decision-making.

Empirical research on substations has found they can help generate positive community attitudes

toward police and reduce fear of crime (Pate, Wycoff, Skogan, & Sherman, 1986; Rosenbaum & Luri-

gio, 1994; Skogan & Wycoff, 1986; Wycoff, Skogan, Pate, Sherman, & Annan, 1985). Police officers

assigned to substations have also reported high levels of support for community outreach and commu-

nity policing generally (Moon, McCluskey,& Lee, 2005). Research finds substations are less effective

in addressing crime occurrence. Sherman and Eck (2002) found that substations (which they termed

“police storefronts”) were a popular but ineffectivemethod of crime control. This reflects the evidence

on community policing generally, with the tactic havinga g reater effecton citizen satisfaction, percep-

tions of disorder, and police legitimacy than crime (Gill, Weisburd, Telep, Vitter, & Bennett, 2014).

1.2 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)

BIDs represent a promising approach in harnessing the capacity of private businesses to contribute to

community well-being. BIDs commonly incorporate a self-imposed financing mechanism, binding on

all business and property owners in the given district, with the generated revenue funding key neigh-

borhood services (Mitchell, 2001). BIDs do not exclusively focus on crime prevention as the services

funded often involve a range of activities such as sanitation and physical maintenance of buildings

(Brooks, 2008). Nonetheless, research has found BIDs to be associated with significant crime reduc-

tions in several instances.

Hoyt (2004) found that BIDs in Philadelphia were associated with decreased levels of crime as

compared with commercial areas absent BIDs. Brooks (2008) found that the establishment of BIDs in

Los Angeles led to 57 fewercr imes being reported to the police per year, a 10% reduction fromt he pre-

BID level. A follow-upto Brooks’s (2008) evaluation found marginal effectson total violent crime rates

but significantly larger reductions on robbery rates (MacDonald et al., 2009). Cook and MacDonald