Do Stings Control Crime

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Do Stings Control Crime?

• An Evaluation of a Police Fencing Operation

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Abstract

• Anti-fencing operations euphemistically called
  stings
• Believed to be important undercover tactic for
  combating property crime
• This study examined storefront anti-fencing
  operation in Birmingham, AL
• Utilized time series analysis
• Examined transitive and reflexive
  organizational goals

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Organizational Goals

• Acknowledged that pursuit of legitimate
  organizational goals justifies organizational
  behavior
• Not a carte blanche reality even in instances of
  lofty organizational goals
• Limits are placed on organizational goals
• Authors of this paper suggest that as police
  behavior becomes less benign the more important
  demonstrating the utility of that behavior becomes

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Police Goals

• As the use of proactive tactics such as stings
  depart from legitimacy the utility of such
  tactics in achieving organizational goals and the
  value of the goal itself must be assessed
• In other words, as the use of questionable
  police tactics increases society needs to examine
  the goal underlying the tactic in addition to the
  tactic itself

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Cost-Benefit?

• When police use illegal tactics we must
  determine whether the tactic achieves the
  organizational goal
• Police are devoted to curbing crime
• Therefore, it can be argued that any operation
  resulting in increased crime is not achieving
  police organizational goal
• Perhaps society might also suffer from the use of
  such tactics

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Mohr (1973) Police Goals

• Transitive intended effects on organizational
  environment
• Reflexive goals for organizational survival
• Product means to achieve an organizational end
• We are interested in Transitive and Reflexive
  goals here

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Reflexive Goals

• No doubt stings are effective means of reflexive
  goals achievement
• The amount of publicity surrounding a sting
  demonstrate the importance in this tactic
• Public witnesses police arresting bad guys
• Police certain to survive as an organization
• This paper takes the reflexive goal attainment of
  stings as a given this is not under debate by
  the author

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Transitive Goals

• There has been considerable debate on the social
  purpose, functions, transitive goals of police
• Crime control? Order maintenance? Crime
  prevention?
• Do stings allow the police as an organization to
  achieve any of the above goals?

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Empirical Literature

• Few studies have evaluated the effects of sting
  operations
• Existing studies usually limit their analyses to
  arrests and property recovery
• Most studies claim that stings produce
  high-quality arrests and result in large amounts
  of property recovery
• Why do police arrest? To prevent crime or curb
  crime through deterrence and incapacitation

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Previous Literature

• If crime is not prevented through arrests and
  adjudication then the transitive police goal is
  not being achieved
• US Dept Justice, Criminal Conspiracies Division
  (1979)
• Took a broad look at anti-fencing projects
• Described persons selling to police stings
• Examined impact of incidence of property crime
• Examined recovery and disposition of stolen
  property

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USDOJ

• It was concluded that anti-fencing projects
  showed decreases in property crime at the
  termination of the operations
• The authors of this paper believed this to be in
  question
• If USDOJ results were analyzed using a 2-tailed
  analysis instead of the original 1-tailed then
  the results show stings dont have the positive
  results believed
• Now how savvy are you as grad students?
• Is it acceptable to use a 2-tailed test with a
  directional hypothesis?

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Data Methods

• Birmingham, AL police
• Data comprised of daily counts of the number of
  auto thefts reported to the BPD between 9-1-84
  and 6-30-86
• 668 daily accounts
• Small increase in auto theft reported
• Might there be a confounding explanation for this
  phenomenon?
• Or did auto theft REALLY increase due to the
  presence of the sting operation?

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Discussion

• It was suggested that departmental reflexive
  goals were served by the positive publicity
  associated with the sting
• The question centered on whether the sting served
  the transitive goals of the agency
• The publicity ensured continued survival of the
  police organization...not in question
• Did the sting serve the transitive purpose of
  decreasing crime or preventing crime?

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Results

• 2 possible results
• 1. The stings transitive goal was not achieved
  it was damaged by the apparent increase in auto
  theft associated with the sting
• It would appear as though the sting cannot be
  legitimized on the basis of organizational goal
  achievement
• It failed to curb crime or prevent crimeit
  resulted in an increase of crime!

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Results

• 2. The sting did not affect the agencys
  transitive goal
• If the sting failed to have any appreciable
  effect on the organizational goal the focus of
  analysis must be on the costs associated with
  the sting
• Did Birmingham society suffer morally due to
  their police engaging in illegal behavior?
• Do the ends justify the means?