Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/108691 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8800
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Over a million people in the United States are employed in private security and law enforcement, yet very little is known about the effects of private police on crime. The current study examines the relationship between a privately-funded university police force and crime in a large U.S. city. Following an expansion of the jurisdictional boundary of the private police force, we see no short-term change in crime. However, using a geographic regression discontinuity approach, we find large impacts of private police on public safety, with violent crime in particular decreasing. These contradictory results appear to be a consequence of delayed effect of private police on crime.
Subjects: 
law enforcement
privately provided public good
crime
JEL: 
K42
H41
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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