University of Missouri sociologists recently documented the influence of racial division and economic inequality on the size of a city’s police force.
Guðmundur Oddsson, PhD candidate in sociology in MU’s College of Arts and Science, and his colleagues examined data from 64 American cities with populations of more than 250,000. They found evidence that cities tend to increase the size of their police force when high levels of poverty exist along with greater economic inequality between racial groups.
“Municipal governments can use our research to inform policies that reduce inequalities in cities, which may subsequently reduce the expense of increasing the size of their police forces,” said Oddsson, co-lead author.
“Our study suggests that race and class inequality intertwine to influence police force size,” said co-lead author Andrew Fisher, sociology doctoral student in MU’s College of Arts and Science.
“Importantly, our study grants support to the theory that the police mainly protect the interests of dominant groups, that is, whites and the affluent.”
The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy published Fisher and Oddsson’s study, “Policing class and race in urban America.” Study co-author Takeshi Wada worked with Fisher and Oddsson while Wada was a sociology faculty member at the University of Missouri.