Police and Clearance Rates: Evidence from Recurrent Redeployments Within a City�

More police reduces crime but little is know about the mechanism. Does more
police deter crime by reducing its attractiveness, or is the reduction driven by an
incapacitation of recurrent criminals?
This paper exploits micro-level data on single robberies together with rede-
ployments of two police forces within a city, providing first evidence of (negative)
incapacitation that is driven by reduced clearance rates. During shift turnovers,
disrupted patrolling lowers the likelihood of arresting robbers, including repeat of-
fenders, from 13.5 to 8 percent. Offenders do not seem to exploit these inefficiencies.