The Supply and Demand Shifts in Policing at the Start of the Pandemic: A National Multi-Wave Survey of the Impacts of COVID-19 on American Law Enforcement

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111221148217
• Author: Cynthia Lum,Carl Maupin,Megan Stoltz
• Date: 01 December 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Quarterly

2023, Vol. 26(4) 495–519

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111221148217

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The Supply and Demand Shifts

in Policing at the Start of the

Pandemic: A National

Multi-Wave Survey of the

Impacts of COVID-19 on

American Law Enforcement

Cynthia Lum

1

, Carl Maupin

2

, and Megan Stoltz

2

Abstract

We report the results of the only multi-wave survey of alarge and geographically diverse

sample of police agencies across the UnitedStates to understand the immediate impacts

of the COVID-19pandemic on law enforcement. Findingsindicate an unprecedentedand

sustained shift in both the supply of and demand for police services during that time.

While overall calls for service (demand) tended to decline in most agencies, some

experienced increases in specif‌ic categoriesof calls. During the early months of COVID,

agencies also reduced their in-person response to calls for service, arrests, proactive

policing, and community policing activities (supply). These f‌indings indicate a substantial

change in thepublic safety landscape duringthat time, which was experiencedby agencies

of all sizes and from all types of jurisdictions. We explore how public health pandemics

can lead to substantial, immediate, and potentially sustained changes to police deploy-

ment and police-community interactions that may impact public safety goals.

Keywords

COVID, police, calls for service, proactive policing, community policing

1

Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

2

Professional Development and Engagement, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Alexandria, VA,

USA

Corresponding Author:

Cynthia Lum, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, 4400 University

Drive, MS 6D12, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.

Email: clum@gmu.edu

The year 2020 will historically be remembered as when the highly contagious SARS-

CoV-2 virus, commonly known as COVID-19, infected the world. As early as January

17, 2020, the f‌irst reported case of COVID-19 in the United States emerged in the state

of Washington. By the end of January 2020, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human

Services declared the virus a public health emergency. The number and spread of cases

began accelerating at the end of February 2020. On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was

off‌icially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. On March 13, then-

U.S. President Trump declared a national emergency, and by the end of March 2020,

deaths from COVID-19 had begun exponentially increasing. By early April, at least 42

states had implemented stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidance.

1

In over

two-and-a-half years in the United States alone, there have been over 97.6 million

reported cases of COVID-19 infections and over 1 million deaths.

2

In 2021 (as in

2020), COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind

heart disease and cancer.

3

As a pandemic and public health crisis, COVID-19 has been

one of the worst infectious diseases modern humanity has known.

COVID-19 and its related public health emergency declarations led to dramatic

changes in everyday life. With reductions and shutdowns in public and private ac-

tivities, people began sheltering indoors, working and schooling from home, and

venturing outside sparingly for supplies. Transportation and tourism came to a standstill

with satellite images showing entire highways and cities void of vehicle and pedestrian

traff‌ic. Hospitals, nursing homes, and morgues bore the brunt of the immediate impact

of COVID, overwhelmed by sickness and death. Throughout 2020, there would be

dramatic shifts in employment and commerce, from lost jobs to how people labored.

The pandemic and its response further exacerbated pre-existing social inequalities that

have been well documented, including racial and ethnic disparities (see the systematic

review by Mude et al., 2021),

4

gender inequality (Fisher & Ryan, 2021;Mooi-Reci &

Risman, 2021), and relatedly, socio-economic disparities (Clouston et al., 2021;Fiske

et al., 2022). Deteriorating mental health, drug use, alcoholism, and overdoses were

additional consequences of these social changes (Czeisler et al., 2021;Linas et al.,

2021;Martellucci et al., 2021).

The signif‌icant impact of the pandemic on every aspect of life included unprece-

dented changes in the criminal justice system (for an overview, see National

Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, 2020). For example, because of

social distancing guidance and the risk of contagion and death, court services attempted

to reduce person-to-person contact and postponed hearings and trials,

5

leading to

extensive downstream backlog impacts and changes in court operations (Baldwin et al.,

2020;Chan, 2021;Godfrey et al., 2022;Jurva, 2021;Witte & Berman, 2021). Cor-

rectional systems also adjusted, attempting to restrict intake and hasten release to

reduce the incarcerated population and alleviate the spread of COVID-19 in con-

f‌inement (Carson et al., 2022;Hawks et al., 2020;Marcum, 2020).

6

Parole and

probation supervision and treatment services were also affected, with off‌icers and

providers unable to meet with their clients (Schwalbe & Koetzle, 2021;Viglione et al.,

2020).

496 Police Quarterly 26(4)