Investigating Burglary: The Measurement of Police Performance (From Police and Policing: Contemporary Issues, P 72-87, 1989, Dennis Jay Kenney, ed. -- See NCJ-121271)

• NCJ Number: 121278
• Author(s): J Burrows
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 16 pages
• Sale Source: Praeger Publishers
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from Investigating Burglary: The Measurement of Police Performance (1986)

Annotation

Factors accounting for differences in clearance rates for residential burglaries were examined using data from six police forces in England.

Abstract

The research sought to determine whether the police in areas with low clearance rates were in some respects less effective than police in areas with high clearance rates. The six areas included three pairs of areas with similar levels of residential burglary and similar environments, but with significantly different clearance rates. The arrest rates ranged from 8 to 23 percent and the clearance rates from 11 percent to 65 percent. Findings showed that clearance rates gave little or no indication of police effectiveness. Instead, differences in clearance rates were largely an artifact of police policies. The high clearance rates often resulted from local procedures designed to ensure that the burglars arrested gave full accounts of their past offending. Results also suggested that spending many hours on each burglary investigation is not a useful way to improve arrests or clearances or to increase victim satisfaction. Tables and 6 references.