• "Monitoring Police with Body-Worn Cameras: Evidence from Chicago",
  Journal of Urban Economics, 2024.

  View Abstract

  Using data from the Chicago Police Department on complaints filed by civilians and reports of force by officers, this paper estimates the effect of body-worn cameras (BWCs) of officer and civilian behavior. Using a two-way fixed effects design, I find BWCs are associated with a 33% reduction in use-of-force complaints, driven by white officer-black civilian complaints. Additionally, I find a 42% reduction in officers reporting striking civilians and a large though less significant reduction in officer firearm usage, potential mechanisms for the reduction in complaints. Importantly, I find no change in officer injury or force from civilians. However, I find evidence of de-policing as officers make fewer drug-related arrests following BWC adoption.

Working Papers

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• "Shift Structure and Cognitive Depletion: Evidence from Police Officers",
  Job Market Paper.

  View Abstract

  Decision-making, risk-taking, and situational awareness are all important factors for effective and equitable policing. However, these factors can also be affected by fatigue, overwork, and cognitive stress, which can accumulate as police officers continue to work. This paper studies how working consecutive days affects police officer outcomes and activity using rich data from the Chicago Police Department. To overcome the endogenous selection of working days, I take advantage of a unique shift structure where working days are predetermined and based on fixed groupings. This is combined with a two-way fixed effects design that leverages within-officer and within-assignment variation. I find that, after initially increasing, officers make fewer arrests, conduct fewer stops, issue fewer citations and tickets, and patrol less as they work more days. The declines in activity are driven by reductions towards the end of an officer’s shift. Despite this decline in arrests and activity, officers file more use-of-force reports, are more likely to be injured, and make more judgement-based discretionary arrests after working many consecutive days.

• "The Unintended Consequences of Policing Technology: Evidence from ShotSpotter", with Michael Topper.
  Media Coverage: The Economist, The Chicago Tribune, Stateline

  View Abstract

  ShotSpotter is an acoustic gunfire detection technology utilized by police departments in over 150 cities with the intention of rapidly dispatching police officers to violent crime scenes to catch perpetrators and reduce gun violence. Despite its prevalence, little is known about its effectiveness in reducing gun violence (intended consequence) nor its effect on 911 emergency response times (unintended consequence) given its resource-intensive operating procedures. In this paper, we utilize variation in timing from ShotSpotter roll-outs across Chicago police districts from 2016-2022 to estimate the causal effects of ShotSpotter on 911 emergency response times that are designated as Priority 1 (immediate dispatch). Using comprehensive 911 dispatch data from the Chicago Police Department, we find that ShotSpotter leads police officers to be dispatched one-minute slower (23% increase) and arrive on-scene two-minutes later (14% increase) while controlling for the police officer availability and overall 911 call quantities. Moreover, these effects are driven by resource-constrained periods, and consequently, reduce police officers' success rate in arresting perpetrators (12%) when responding to emergency calls. However, we also find that ShotSpotter increases the number of gun-related arrests, thereby indicating success in achieving its primary goal, albeit at a significant cost.

• "Have U.S. Gun Buyback Programs Misfired?" with Joseph J. Sabia and D. Mark Anderson.
  Revisions Requested at Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
  Media Coverage: NBC Philadelphia, Reason, CNN, Houston Chronicle, Virginia Public Radio, CATO Institute, Stateline

  View Abstract

  Gun buyback programs (GBPs), which use public funds to purchase civilians' privately-owned firearms, aim to reduce gun violence. However, next to nothing is known about their effects on firearm-related crime or deaths. Using data from the National Incident Based Reporting System, we find no evidence that GBPs reduce gun crime. Given our estimated null findings, with 95 percent confidence, we can rule out decreases in firearm-related crime of greater than 1.3 percent during the year following a buyback. Using data from the National Vital Statistics System, we also find no evidence that GBPs reduce suicides or homicides where a firearm was involved. These results call into question the efficacy of city gun buyback programs in their current form.

Works In Progress

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• “Drinking Water Contaminants and Infant Health”, with Katie Grooms, Heather Royer, and Kevin Schnepel.