Drug Enforcement and the Deterrence of Property Crime Among Local Jurisdictions

Abstract

This article investigates the relationships among property crime, police resources, and the allocation of police resources in a model using data from Florida jurisdic tions. Crime spillovers among local jurisdictions are also investigated in this context. Significant spillovers are revealed, and the evidence suggests that allocating scarce police resources to drug enforcement reduces the deterrence of property crime. The results also suggest that police may capture rents by increasing drug enforcement. Increasing the relative number of drug arrests raises the property crime rate, and both of these variables are positively correlated with police resources.