"What happens to police departments that collect more fines? They solve fewer crimes."

[ucbalumnus]

New research paper and article suggest that when police departments collect more fees and fines, they are less effective against serious crimes, and that this reduces citizens’ trust in the police because they are more likely to see the police as exploiting them for revenue, while also being more likely to see the police as being ineffective against serious crime.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/09/24/want-your-police-department-to-collect-more-fines-it-will-solve-fewer-crimes/

@Goldstein

Some communities have a saying: “The police are never there when you need them and always there when you don’t.” Our findings help explain this adage. In cities where police are collecting revenue, communities are at once overpoliced — because they are charged with more fines and fees — and underpoliced — because serious crimes in their areas are less likely to be solved.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1078087418791775

@Goldstein

We find that police departments in cities that collect a greater share of their revenue from fees solve violent and property crimes at significantly lower rates.

[marvin100]

Wow, thanks for this–really interesting (and grim) analysis.