Spatial and Temporal Relationshp of Property Crime, Police Expenditure and Suburban Development

• NCJ Number: 72705
• Author(s): S Hakim
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 229 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: University of Pennsylvania
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. University of Pennsylvania - doctoral dissertation

Annotation

This study investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of property crimes and police expenditures in a suburban region within the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

Abstract

Crime clearance rates and the specific crime and expenditure statistics were analyzed in order to gain understanding of the spatial pattern of property crimes and its relation to police activities. The study area contained 101 incorporated municipalities in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties, in Southern New Jersey, which are part of the Philadelphia Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. These jurisdictions include a wide spectrum of regional types from old urban centers to rural farmlands and forests. An empirical study was made consisting of review and analysis of major operational micro and macro models used for description, decisionmaking, and prediction purposes. Cases excluded from analysis, data sources, and weaknesses of the data base are described. Conceptual criteria were developed which assisted in evaluating empirical measurement of police services. Statistical and comparative analyses were made of the impact of growth in criminal activity and the community's response. Findings of the study indicated that property crimes were distributed among communities according to locational, physical, and economic properties, and the relationship of these properties to the other communities; population growth was inversely related to property crime level; and violent crimes in suburban communities were not statistically related to police strength or to property crimes. As communities became wealthier, they spent more on police services, yet property crime still remains high in these communities. Specifically, property crimes in the suburb are related positively to wealth, commercial land use concentration, and ease of access from urban centers. They are not correlated with socioeconomic characteristics. Further research on the subject is necessary. Figures, tables, a list of symbols, and 45 references are included.