Dr. David Jacobs, Professor of Sociology, The Ohio State University

Jonathan Dirlam and Dave Jacobs

 

Theory suggests that successful demands for stronger police departments should be especially likely soon after a growth in economic inequality. Such increases should extend the political influence of the most prosperous citizens while reducing their security by making them increasingly attractive targets. Yet racial threat may provide a stronger explanation for police strength particularly in the United States. This study uses a fixed-effects pooled time-series design to uncover interactive and nonlinear relationships between inequality, racial threat, and th per capita number of police in large U.S. cities after three census years. Other factors held constant include residential segregation, social disorganization, city size, and the tax base. Results suggest that shifts in inequality had the strongest effects on police strength, although racial threat measured by shifts in black presence explains this outcome as well. Such findings should begin to resolve disputes about which social divisions best explain changes in the strength of these agencies that specialize in maintaining order sometimes with violence.