ART - Examining the Merits of Municipal Police Contracting 2011

The document discusses the use of intergovernmental contracting as an alternative to shared police initiatives in states with many compartmentalized and autonomous governmental units, such as New Jersey. It highlights the lack of literature on police contracting and presents a study on New Jersey municipalities with less than 15,000 in population. The study aims to examine the differences in non-violent crime rates between municipalities that contract for police services and those that do not. The model used includes variables such as municipal population, population density, median family income, percent population that is black, percent population that is male ages 15 to 24, number of accommodation and food service establishments, distance from cities, and a contract dummy variable. The results show that contract municipalities have higher non-violent crime rates compared to municipalities with their own police forces. Additionally, it is noted that contract and non-contract municipalities have comparable median accommodation and food service establishments (3.5 compared to 20). The document also provides variable definitions and data sources used in the study.