Economics of Community Safety
Governments at all levels are grappling with the challenges of increasing demands on police services at the same time that their budgets are threatened with cuts. Although Canada’s economy has weathered the financial crisis that started in 2008 with fewer disruptions than in the United Kingdom or the United States, there are signs that global economic conditions, especially in the European Union, continue to be uncertain and those challenges could have a substantial impact upon economic conditions in Canada. Economic uncertainty can have an impact on all government services, including policing.
Austerity Policing
- Austerity Policing
Austerity Policing
In this project the research team will review the economics, management, and policing literatures to identify current trends in respect to the relationships between economics and policing, including how police services in other nations have managed austerity.
The RAND cost of crime calculator was introduced in 2010 as an instrument to be used by US police stakeholders to better understand the value proposition of policing. There are a number of shortcomings to this model that make it less efficient in estimating the benefits of policing in Canada. The investigators will identify how the calculator could be modified to inform provincial policing by a) adding additional offences to the calculator; b) updating the instrument using the results of cost-benefit and officer effectiveness research published since 2010, and: c) considering benefits to society other than reducing serious crimes (e.g., reducing traffic accidents).
Publications:
Published fall 2014 by University of Regina professors Rick Ruddell, Ph.D. and Nicholas Jones, Ph.D., Austerity Policing: Responding to Crime During Economic Downturns documents the difficulties and challenges faced by police forces operating with less funding and resources. http://bit.ly/2zNSst1Published summer 2014 by University of Regina professors Rick Ruddell, Ph.D. and Nicholas Jones, Ph.D., The Economics of Canadian Policing Five Years Into the Great Recession aims to identify current trends in relationships between economics and policing as part of a proactive strategy to enable Canadian police agencies to plan well for the future.
- The Changing Economy and Demography of Saskatchewan and its Impact on Crime and Policing
The Changing Economy and Demography of Saskatchewan and its Impact on Crime and Policing
Phase I Report: Overview of Demographic, Economic, Crime and Policing Trends in Saskatchewan, Dr. Stuart Wilson and Dr. Ken Sagynbekov Department of Economics, University of Regina. This report is the first preliminary report of a larger research project. This larger research project aims to examine the socio-economic determinants of crime, identify how economic and demographic changes in Saskatchewan and its cities have influenced changes in crime rates, and to speculate how crime rates might evolve with continued resource development and the expansion of the Saskatchewan economy.
This project will also attempt to identify reactive and proactive responses of police forces in the province to the changing economic, demographic, and crime patterns they face. This first preliminary report provides an overview of the economic and demographic changes that have occurred over the last two decades in Saskatchewan and its ten major cities, and the coinciding changes in policing and crime rates http://bit.ly/2QGcyPFPhase II Report: Influences on Criminal Behaviour - Theory and Evidence, Stuart Wilson, Ken Sagynbekov, Taylor Pardy, Jason Penner Department of Economics, University of Regina, June 2015. This report is the second preliminary report of a larger research project focusing on the changing economy and demography of Saskatchewan and its impact on crime and policingand presents a review of the literature on the theoretical and empirical determinants of criminal behaviour and crime.
On the basis of economic theory, the factors that are believed to be important determinants of crime are: levels of income, unemployment, inflation , poverty, inequality, educational attainment, age, differences in family structures, immigration, ethnic differences, punishment for offenses, policing, crime prevention strategies.
http://bit.ly/2zW0eB5Phase III Report: Saskatchewan Crime Patterns and Determinants -Stuart Wilson, Department of Economics, University of Regina, May 2017. This report is the third preliminary report of a larger research project focusing on the changing economy and demography of Saskatchewan and its impact on crime and policing. The first report presented an overview of economic, demographic, policing, and crime trends over the last two decades in Saskatchewan and its ten major cities, with the additional context of developments in the other Prairie provinces, and in Canada as a whole. The second report provided a review of the literature on the theoretical and empirical determinants of criminal behaviour and crime. This report examines crime patterns in Saskatchewan and investigates their determinants, with a particular focus on demographic and economic influences. http://bit.ly/2L9PfIN
Phase IV Report: Survey on the Perceptions and Expectations of Economic and Demographic Change and of Community Safety in Saskatchewan, Stuart Wilson, Department of Economics, University of Regina, December 2017. This report is the fourth report of a larger research project focusing on the changing economy and demography of Saskatchewan and its impact on crime and policing. The first report presented an overview of economic, demographic, policing, and crime trends over the last two decades in Saskatchewan and its ten major cities, with the additional context of developments in the other Prairie provinces, and in Canada as a whole. The second report provided a review of the literature on the theoretical and empirical determinants of criminal behaviour and crime. The third report examined crime patterns in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, and investigated their determinants, with a particular focus on demographic, economic, and policing influences. This fourth report presents the results of a survey on perceptions of economic growth and opportunity, gang activity, alcohol abuse, illicit drug use, crime, youth activities, and community safety and policing in the largest cities of Saskatchewan. The survey was conducted between March and July of 2015. There were 252 survey respondents. http://bit.ly/2B8SGuA