Black Neighbors Matter: Officer Neighborhoods and Racial Differences in Policing

Abstract

Ten years of data from a large American city reveal that Black civilians are consistently overrepresented in police street interactions. I combine property registry data, voter files, and employee records to locate officers' exact addresses and study whether racial diversity in their neighborhoods impacts racial differences in policing. I find that White (unlike Black and Hispanic) officers are geographically clustered in a few (predominately White) neighborhoods. Those living in Black neighborhoods interact with fewer Blacks and are more productive in Black interactions (e.g., more likely to seize drugs during stops). White officers quasi-randomly exposed to a new next-door Black neighbor interact with relatively fewer Blacks and are more productive. Effects are larger among officers in White neighborhoods, with less experience, and with more affluent new neighbors. These findings suggest that segregation may amplify racial differences in policing.

Keywords: Non-labor Discrimination, Policing, Neighborhood Characteristics

JEL Classification: J15, J45, R23