Policing and public health calls for service in Philadelphia

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 10 Số 1 - 2021
Jerry H. Ratcliffe1
1Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Tóm tắt

AbstractThis contribution outlines various spatial and temporal aspects of medical or public-health related calls for service from the public to police in Philadelphia in 2019. These incidents comprise about 8% of the police department’s workload that originates from the public. Calls appear to be highly concentrated in a few areas, and specifically the Center City and Kensington neighborhoods. They are also more likely to occur late afternoon and evening. The article shows that some medical or public health activity initially masquerades as crime or other policing work and some events eventually determined to be police/crime activity can initially appear to be public health related. About 20% of activity in this area does not appear predictable from the initial call type as handled by police dispatch.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Bittner, E. (1967). The police on skid-row: a study of peace keeping. American Sociological Review, 32(5), 699–715.

Dijk, A. V., & Crofts, N. (2017). Law enforcement and public health as an emerging field. Policing and Society, 27(3), 261–275.

Gillooly, J. W. (2020). How 911 callers and call-takers impact police encounters with the public: The case of the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest. Criminology and Public Policy, 19(3), 787–804.

Goldstein, H. (1979). Improving policing: A problem-oriented approach. Crime and Delinquency, 25(2), 236–258.

Johnson, N. J., Roman, C. G., Mendlein, A. K., Harding, C., Francis, M., & Hendrick, L. (2020). Exploring the influence of drug trafficking gangs on overdose deaths in the largest narcotics market in the eastern United States. Social Sciences, 9(11), 1–21.

Koziarski, J. (in press). Examining the spatial concentration of mental health calls for police service in a small city. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice.

Neusteter, S. R., Mapolski, M., Khogali, M., & O’Toole, M. (2019). The 911 Call Processing System: A Review of the Literature as it Relates to Policing. New York: Vera Institute of Justice. www.vera.org/publications/911-call-processing-system-review-of-policing-literature.

Simpson, R. (in press). Calling the police: Dispatchers as important interpreters and manufacturers of calls for service data. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice.

Wood, J. D. (2020). Private policing and public health: a neglected relationship. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 36(1), 19–38.

Wood, J. D., Watson, A. C., & Barber, C. W. J. (2021). What can we expect of police in the face of deficient mental health systems? Qualitative insights from Chicago police officers. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 28, 28–42.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Tập 10 Số 1

Thông tin tác giả