Crime is Terribly Revealing: Information Technology and Police Productivity

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mastrobuoni, Giovanni
• 署名单位: Collegio Carlo Alberto; University of Turin; University of Essex
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdaa009
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 2727-2753
• 关键词: skilled labor; reduce crime; hot-spots; computers; IMPACT; ORGANIZATION; demand

摘要

An increasing number of police departments use information technology (IT) to optimize patrolling strategies, yet little is known about its effectiveness in preventing crime. Based on quasi-random access to predictive policing, this study shows that IT improves police productivity as measured by crime clearance rates. Thanks to detailed information on individual incidents and offender-level identifiers it also shows that criminals strategies are predictable. Moreover, the introduction of predictive policing coincides with a large negative trend-discontinuity in crime rates. The benefit-cost ratio of this IT innovation appears to be large.