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Description: The literature pertaining to disproportionate minority contact by the police coalesces around two specific lines of thought. One describes the police as a racist, enforcement arm of the economic and political elite. The second line of thinking asserts that minorities are disproportionately involved in criminal activity and, consequently, holds disproportionate minority contact by the police to be the natural consequences of disproportionate criminality. This article explores a third possibility,namely, that policing is a social service and some people consume that service, along with other social services, at higher rates.The rates of calls for service to the police significantly affect deployment of police resources.If some neighborhoods call the police significantly more than others, those neighborhoods are likely to have police deployed to them significantly more than others. This assumption was borne out by the data.Comparing service utilization rates in the City of Houston across census tracts and service categories, this article reveals that areas of the community that disproportionately consume other social services also disproportionately call the police. Specifically, this study reveals patterns of fire and EMS service utilization by minorities that are comparable to their rates of police service utilization. The study also reveals that the pattern of police service overutilization is similar to the pattern of over-utilization of public assistance.
Suggested Citation:
Werling, R.L. & Cardner, P.A. (2011). Disproportionate minority/police contact: Social
Service Perspective. [Electronic Version]. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice,
7(1), 47-58.
Keywords: police/minority contact, resource allocation, social service utilization
Date: Oct 06, 2011 | File Size: 378.86 Kb | Downloads: 1716