NCJ Number
82811
Journal
Evaluation Review Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1982) Pages: 285-293
Date Published
1982
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This author of a critique of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment responds to an article written by Barbara J. Risman, who challenged the methodology used in the critique.
Abstract
In the Kansas City experiment, patrols were continued as usual, increased, or eliminated on various beats to test how various levels of police visibility affected such outcome measures as crime rates and citizen satisfaction with the police. Nearly all the outcome measures showed no significant relation to experimental treatment. Although the critique of the experiment developed 10 major arguments, Risman's comments focused on only 1. Risman's critique contained numerous arithmetic and conceptual errors. For example, she asserted that the author used his model to estimate mileage traveled per shift in only two of the three types of beats. In fact, the author devoted an entire section of his article to patrol intensities in the third type of beat. In addition, Risman was apparently unaware of all of the literature on the experiment and failed to provide statistical support for one of her major assertions. Nevertheless, Risman did acknowledge the validity and usefulness of models which, like the author's, entail certain physical laws for urban service systems which are distributed over space. Although the Kansas City experiment represents a laudable pioneering effort, it could have avoided much controversy if more attention had been paid to monitoring to promptly identify violations of experimental conditions. New technologies, such as automatic vehicle location systems, should permit more controlled experiments in the future. A note and a list of eight references are provided.