The association between professional sporting events and police calls for service in San Antonio, Texas

The influence of sporting events on crime is an important but under-researched area in criminology. Although this literature is growing, it mostly focuses on whether crime changes in the city/area where a sporting event is taking place. Thus, it is unclear whether crime in a different city/state can be affected by airing a sporting event on television. The current study contributes to the literature by investigating the impact of televised professional sporting events by the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL on calls for police service in San Antonio, Texas. Specifically, this study examines whether five categories of police calls for service in San Antonio increase or decrease on days in which NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL games take place compared to days with no games. This study examines this association between March 2020 and March 2021 during which in-person sporting events were not permitted in San Antonio because of COVID-19 restrictions. Results indicate that days with particular sporting events are associated with increases in certain calls for police service, while others are associated with decreases. Our findings suggest that police departments may consider increased patrol on days that certain sporting events take place. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Crime & Justice is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Geographic disparities in violent crime during the COVID-19 lockdown in Miami-Dade County, Florida, 2018-2020.

OBJECTIVES: This study uses two cluster detection techniques to identify clusters of violent crime during the 3 months of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Miami-Dade County compared to that during an equivalent period in 2018 and 2019. METHODS: Violent crime data from the Miami-Dade Central Records Bureau were analyzed. The Local Indicators of Spatial Association statistics and a space-time permutation statistic were used to identify clusters of violent crimes and outliers, and Global Moran's I tool was used to assess spatial patterning in violent crime. Neighborhood disadvantage data were obtained from the American Community Survey 5-year estimates linked with arrest locations. RESULTS: Violent crime arrests fell by 7.1% in 2020. Arrests were concentrated in predominantly Black disadvantaged neighborhoods in the northern part, and similar results were produced for core clusters by the two cluster techniques with positive global Moran's I for all study years. Although accounting for only 17% of the county population, nearly half of violent crime arrests were for Black or African American. Males comprised most violent crime arrests. CONCLUSIONS: Crime prevention and intervention efforts should be focused on both high-risk places and offenders.

Anti-Asian American Hate Crimes Spike During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The recent high-profile cases of hate crimes in the U.S., especially those targeting Asian Americans, have raised concerns about their risk of victimization. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, intimations-and even accusations-that the novel coronavirus is an "Asian" or "Chinese" virus have been linked to anti-Asian American hate crime, potentially leaving members of this group not only fearful of being victimized but also at risk for victimization. According to the Stop AAPI Hate Center, nearly 1900 hate crimes against Asian Americans were reported by victims, and around 69% of cases were related to verbal harassment, including being called the "Chinese Coronavirus." Yet, most of the evidence martialed on spikes in anti-Asian American hate crime during the COVID-19 pandemic has been descriptive. Using data from four U.S. cities that have large Asian American populations (New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.), this study finds that hate crime against Asian Americans increased considerably in 2020 compared with that of 2019. Specifically, hate crime against Asian Americans temporarily surged after March 16, 2020, when the blaming labels including "Kung flu" or "Chinese Virus" were used publicly. However, the significant spike after March 16, 2020, in anti-Asian American hate crime was not sustained over the follow-up time period available for analysis.

Racial Disparities in the Enforcement of COVID-19 Public Health Violations

To curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, most cities and states implemented COVID-19 public health restrictions that became enforceable offenses. Unfortunately, concerns about unequitable enforcement arose among minority and impoverished communities. The current study uses official data from San Antonio, Texas to investigate the relationship between zip code racial and ethnic composition and income on the enforcement of COVID-19 public health violations. Over 28,000 enforcement activities from March 2020 to March 2021 were analyzed using random effects logistic regression. Results indicate that enforcement activities in zip codes with above average percent Black and above average percent Hispanic were more likely to receive citations, even though citations were issued in less than one percent of all enforcement activities. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Violence in the Big Apple throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: A borough-specific analysis.

In early 2020, the world faced a rapid, life-changing, public health crisis in the form of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The pandemic and its associated social-distancing measures collided with a period of social unrest following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and persisted for nearly two years following its emergence. The current study adds to existing research by examining the effect of these events on the incidence of violence (shootings and assaults) in New York City (NYC) over a longer period of time, both in the city as a whole and at the borough-level. To accomplish this, the current study draws from publicly available data using series of analytical techniques to account for underlying trends, seasonality, and temperature while also estimating borough-specific effects. Results indicate that the prevalence of COVID-19 cases, associated social-distancing mandates, and the period of social unrest following Floyd's murder were associated with violence in NYC. Further, findings suggest while a number of the factors explored had consistent effects across each of NYC's five boroughs there was some evidence of heterogeneity. The implications for future research on the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.

Violence in the big apple throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: A borough-specific analysis

In early 2020, the world faced a rapid, life-changing, public health crisis in the form of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The pandemic and its associated social-distancing measures collided with a period of social unrest following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and persisted for nearly two years following its emergence. The current study adds to existing research by examining the effect of these events on the incidence of violence (shootings and assaults) in New York City (NYC) over a longer period of time, both in the city as a whole and at the borough-level. To accomplish this, the current study draws from publicly available data using series of analytical techniques to account for underlying trends, seasonality, and temperature while also estimating borough-specific effects. Results indicate that the prevalence of COVID-19 cases, associated social-distancing mandates, and the period of social unrest following Floyd's murder were associated with violence in NYC. Further, findings suggest while a number of the factors explored had consistent effects across each of NYC's five boroughs there was some evidence of heterogeneity. The implications for future research on the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.

Correction to: Measuring the impact of the COVID­19 lockdown on crime in a medium­sized city in China.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s11292-021-09486-7.].

Policing a pandemic: investigating San Antonio’s response to COVID-19’s new crime of public health violations

After the novel coronavirus began spreading across the U.S., many state and local governments imposed COVID-19 restrictions in an attempt to slow the spread. These COVID-19 mitigation techniques had a large impact on policing, as they created a new crime category for police to enforce, COVID-19 public health violations. The current study aims to address some of the uninvestigated questions about policing a pandemic using a unique dataset that combines three sources of official data from San Antonio, Texas. Specifically, we examine the associations between enforcement of COVID-19 public health violations, police calls for service, and COVID-19 case numbers. We also test for interactions between COVID-19 case numbers and police calls for service with respect to a change in the enforcement of COVID-19 public health violations. Results indicate that both police calls for service and COVID-19 case numbers are significantly associated with enforcement activities for COVID-19 public health violations. Additionally, enforcement is conditioned by the amount and type of police calls for service. Policymakers should consider the work and responsibilities the agencies they expect to enforce these COVID-19 policies already have. Haphazardly assigning an agency, such as the police, this new role without carefully considering whether they can feasibly take on more could lead to less enforcement of the COVID-19 restrictions. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Police Practice & Research is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

A Case Study of Family Violence During COVID-19 in San Antonio

The current study investigates the effects of coronavirus restrictions on family violence in the seventh largest city in the country, San Antonio, Texas. Two streams of data were used to evaluate the potential change between what occurred during the lockdown period versus what would have been expected, including the COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index and police calls for service from the San Antonio Police Department. The methodological approach used takes advantage of feature engineering, various machine learning time series forecasting techniques commonly leveraged in financial technical analysis, as well as cross-validation for optimized model selection. These techniques have not been considered in previous domestic or family violence-related research. During the lockdown period in San Antonio, we observed a larger than expected increase in calls to police for family violence incidents. Specifically, an increase of over fourteen percent of police calls for family incidents was observed. The findings of the current study suggest that social service and social welfare agencies consider and plan for how future pandemics or other major disasters will affect the incidence of family violence and take appropriate steps now to bolster resources and scale up for the future.

Re-Opening Dallas: A Short-Term Evaluation of COVID-19 Regulations and Crime

We investigated the relationship between COVID-19 stay-at-home regulations and property and violent crime indexes in Dallas, TX during the first 6 months of 2020. We tested for changes in property and violent crime trends using four key “intervention” dates: the stay-at-home order issued by Judge Clay Jenkins (March 24), the start of Governor Abbott’s phase one of re-opening (May 1), a second phase of more widespread re-openings (May 18), and a third phase of increased capacity limits for businesses (June 3). Our analyses point to two main findings: (1) the time between the initial stay-at-home policy and the phase one re-opening was associated with an increase in the trend of both violent and property crime (although at lower levels than pre-pandemic);and (2) the third phase of re-opening the City of Dallas was associated with higher daily counts of property and violent crime. Our findings suggest that policy makers need to consider policies not only related to police enforcement but also allocation of other social services, particularly when such a sudden policy (e.g., stay-at-home order) is implemented. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Crime & Delinquency is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Did Juvenile Domestic Violence Offending Change During COVID-19?

The current study castssome of the first light into the initial impacts of the largest global health crisis in a generation on family and domestic violence, the long-term repercussions of which may take decades to unpack. Statewide trends in juvenile arrests for domestic violence (DV)-related offending are examined, taking into account school closures for in-person learning in March 2020 and the subsequent mandate for an in-person learning option in Florida in August 2020. Additionally, trends by sex, race/ethnicity, and severity of the offense are examined. Contrasting with growing studies demonstrating an increase in DV-related arrests among adults, we find a significant decrease upon school closures then subsequent increase when schools reopened with an in-person option. Results held across examined subgroups, yet the extent of increase following mandatory in-person learning availability was not as uniform, with Hispanic youth showing the smallest increase and Black youth the largest. Implications are discussed.

Where, When, and By Whom: An Exploratory Analysis of COVID-19 Public Health Violations

COVID-19 health restrictions not only affected crime rates but also created a new and temporary type of crime, COVID-19 public health violations. Unfortunately, this new crime type has not yet been empirically scrutinized. The current study is the first to explore these COVID-19 public health violations by using a dataset created by the City of San Antonio which documents all calls and inspections about COVID-19 public health violations. Specifically, this study investigates the location types (where) that produce the greatest number of calls/inspections, warnings, and citations for COVID-19 public health violations;how they trended over time (when);and which agencies responded to and enforced them (who). The results indicate that there were differences across location type, variation throughout the observation period, and violations were enforced by several agencies. It is crucial to document the effect of COVID-19-related policies so that we may be better prepared for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Exploring regional variability in the short-term impact of COVID-19 on property crime in Queensland, Australia.

Confronted by rapidly growing infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths, governments around the world have introduced stringent containment measures to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. This public health response has had an unprecedented impact on people's daily lives which, unsurprisingly, has also had widely observed implications in terms of crime and public safety. Drawing upon theories from environmental criminology, this study examines officially recorded property crime rates between March and June 2020 as reported for the state of Queensland, Australia. We use ARIMA modeling techniques to compute 6-month-ahead forecasts of property damage, shop theft, residential burglary, fraud, and motor vehicle theft rates and then compare these forecasts (and their 95% confidence intervals) with the observed data for March through to June. We conclude that, with the exception of fraud, all property offence categories declined significantly. For some offence types (shop stealing, other theft offences, and residential burglary), the decrease commenced as early as March. For other offence types, the decline was lagged and did not occur until April or May. Non-residential burglary was the only offence type to significantly increase, which it did in March, only to then decline significantly thereafter. These trends, while broadly consistent across the state's 77 local government areas still varied in meaningful ways and we discuss possible explanations and implications.

Domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic - Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: The aim of this review was to estimate the effect of COVID-19-related restrictions (i.e., stay at home orders, lockdown orders) on reported incidents of domestic violence. Methods: A systematic review of articles was conducted in various databases and a meta-analysis was also performed. The search was carried out based on conventional scientific standards that are outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) and studies needed to meet certain criteria. Results: Analyses were conducted with a random effects restricted maximum likelihood model. Eighteen empirical studies (and 37 estimates) that met the general inclusion criteria were used. Results showed that most study estimates were indicative of an increase in domestic violence post-lockdowns. The overall mean effect size was 0.66 (CI: 0.08-1.24). The effects were stronger when only US studies were considered. Conclusion: Incidents of domestic violence increased in response to stay-at-home/lockdown orders, a finding that is based on several studies from different cities, states, and several countries around the world.

Disentangling community-level changes in crime trends during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago.

Recent studies exploiting city-level time series have shown that, around the world, several crimes declined after COVID-19 containment policies have been put in place. Using data at the community-level in Chicago, this work aims to advance our understanding on how public interventions affected criminal activities at a finer spatial scale. The analysis relies on a two-step methodology. First, it estimates the community-wise causal impact of social distancing and shelter-in-place policies adopted in Chicago via Structural Bayesian Time-Series across four crime categories (i.e., burglary, assault, narcotics-related offenses, and robbery). Once the models detected the direction, magnitude and significance of the trend changes, Firth's Logistic Regression is used to investigate the factors associated to the statistically significant crime reduction found in the first step of the analyses. Statistical results first show that changes in crime trends differ across communities and crime types. This suggests that beyond the results of aggregate models lies a complex picture characterized by diverging patterns. Second, regression models provide mixed findings regarding the correlates associated with significant crime reduction: several relations have opposite directions across crimes with population being the only factor that is stably and positively associated with significant crime reduction.