Date of Award

Fall 2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Public Administration (DPA)

Department

Public Policy and Administration

Committee Chairperson

Kristen B. Crossney, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Beth Sanborn, D.P.A

Committee Member

Allison H. Turner, Ph.D.

Abstract

The relationship between community-oriented policing grants and their impact on violent and property crimes has been examined extensively in the past. However, no studies have examined specific community-oriented grants such as the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) distributed by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). This research examined how JAG funding has affected violent and property crime rates in Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2009. Four years of panel data that was derived for Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) were examined to determine the effects of JAG awards made by COPS to 28 law enforcement agencies serving more than 5.4 million citizens. Study findings suggested that the amount of JAG issuance, combined with other predictors, explained 99.78% of the adjusted R2 in the property crime rate model. Conversely, the amount of JAG issuance, in combination with other predictors, had a more negligible contribution in predicting the violent crime rate with an adjusted R2 of 89.66. This suggests that JAG issuance is a stronger predictor of property crime rates than violent crime rates, although both are significant. Furthermore, Average Owner Occupancy, Average Other Races, and Average Poverty are all positively associated with the Average Property Crime Rate and are statistically significant. That there was no other predictor besides the amount of JAG is statistically significant in the multivariate regression of the Average Violent Crime Rate. It is recommended that researchers continue to investigate the relationship between community-oriented grants and the impacts they have on property and violent crimes.

Available for download on Wednesday, November 17, 2027

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