Changes in Police Calls for Service During the Early Months of the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic
Changes in Police Calls for Service During the Early Months of the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic
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DOI：
10.1093/police/paaa037
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发表时间：
2020-12-01
影响因子：
1.8
通讯作者：
Ashby, Matthew P. J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ashby, Matthew P. J.
新型冠状病毒大流行为警务工作带来多重挑战，包括需要继续回应公众的呼吁。一些应急计划警告警方，在大流行期间，公众的需求可能会大幅增加，但（据作者所知）没有关于重大公共卫生紧急情况下警察需求的实证研究。这项研究使用了美国10个大城市的服务呼叫数据，分析了2020年COVID-19爆发前几个月服务呼叫的变化情况，并与根据往年数据预测的呼叫量进行了比较。与先前的警告相反，在大流行的最初几周，总体呼叫数量下降。特定类型的呼叫（如交通碰撞）大幅减少，其他类型的呼叫（如呼叫尸体）大幅增加。至于其他类别的来电，特别是有关维持治安及罪案的，则大致上如常。不同呼叫类型频率的变化给执法机构带来了挑战，特别是因为许多执法机构本身也将因大流行病而减少工作人员。详细了解电话的变化将使警察领导人能够制定基于证据的计划，以确保他们能够继续为公众服务。
The coronavirus pandemic poses multiple challenges for policing, including the need to continue responding to calls from the public. Several contingency plans warned police to expect a large and potentially overwhelming increase in demand from the public during a pandemic, but (to the author's knowledge) there is no empirical work on police demand during a major public health emergency. This study used calls-for-service data from 10 large cities in the USA to analyse how calls for service changed during the early months of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, compared to forecasts of call volume based on data from previous years. Contrary to previous warnings, overall the number of calls went down during the early weeks of the pandemic. There were substantial reductions in specific call types, such as traffic collisions, and significant increases in others, such as calls to dead bodies. Other types of calls, particularly those relating to crime and order maintenance, continued largely as before. Changes in the frequency of different call types present challenges to law enforcement agencies, particularly since many will themselves be suffering from reduced staffing due to the pandemic. Understanding changes to calls in detail will allow police leaders to put in place evidence-based plans to ensure they can continue to serve the public.