NCJ Number
122924
Date Published
1989
Length
132 pages
Annotation
This volume, the first of four in a study on municipal police services in Pennsylvania, addresses general trends in the levels of criminal activity and police response in Allegheny County between 1977 and 1986, as measured by crime clearance rates.
Abstract
Limitations of the crime reports, financial statistics, and on the population used in the study dictate that it should not be used to compare the crime activity and police costs of different municipalities. The population of Allegheny County diminished steadily during the reporting period, with Pittsburgh experiencing a greater population loss than the other regions. All suburb regions experienced an increase in constant dollar outlays for police operations while the river regions had decreased expenditures. However, per capita costs increased in both Pittsburgh and the county outside the city. As the population level has dropped, so has the number of sworn and unsworn police employees, but the ratio has remained about 3.0 per thousand residents in Pittsburgh and about 1.4 per thousand residents in the county outside. The crime rate for both Part One and Part Two offenses rose, especially in Pittsburgh and other areas experiencing the greatest reductions in police departments. Increasing Part Two crime rates, however, reflect the level of police activity and willingness to take formal action against less serious crimes and may not actually reflect an increase in crime. The report recommends that Pennsylvania increase the uniformity and level of participation by municipal law enforcement agencies in Uniform Crime Report submission. The State should also develop standardized categories for submission of local government expenditure statistics to permit improved data reliability.