Crime Frequency and Police Priority
Respondents were asked to rank on a 10-point scale the crimes that occurred most
frequently in their reservation or the reservation in question. Then the respondent was asked to
rank the same list of crimes according to how police gave priority or attention to each crime.
The respondents ranked crime frequencies and police priorities on a scale of 1 to 10.1 The higher
the score, the more frequent the respondents say they perceive the crime occurring within the
reservation community. Twelve crimes were ranked by the sample: domestic violence, DUI (or
driving under influence of alcohol), drug offenses, aggravated assault, larceny-theft, child abuse,
burglary, auto theft, robbery, rape, arson, and homicide. Respondents were constrained by the
exercise to rank-order the presented crimes list and could not add or subtract other crime
possibilities. The exercise was designed to gain systematic quantitative information about crimes
respondents believe are most frequent and to gain comparative data on respondent perceptions of
police priorities in attending to crimes.
Crime Frequency and Law Enforcement Priority for All Respondents
Our primary investigation will focus on the effects of jurisdiction and groups; but since
the frequency of crimes and police priorities in Indian country are of general interest and are
under-investigated,
we begin by reporting crime frequencies and police crime priorities for all
reporting respondents in the sample. The data are shown in Figure 10.1. For most crimefrequency rankings, 318 respondents reported, except for drug offenses (N=293) and child abuse
(N=266). The rankings for law enforcement priorities were reported by 298 respondents, except
for drug offenses (N=273) and child abuse (N=247). The respondent rankings fall into three
(high, medium, and low) clusters of crime frequencies. Domestic violence, DUIs, and drug
offenses form a cluster that is ranked highest by all respondents, with scores of about 7.9 or 8.0
out of a possible 10. This first group of crimes is a cluster that is more often mentioned by the
280
1 Most respondents, about 80%, were given a twelve- point scale and were asked to assign a number to each crime.
One (1) was for the crime most frequently occurring and twelve (12) for the crime least often happening within the
community. The first series of interviews listed only 10 crimes on a 10-point scale, but two more crimes were added
to the list. For purposes of analysis, a 10-point scale is used. Since about 20% of the sample only ranked 10, or 11
items rather than 12 crime items, the scale is reduced to points to make the ranking data comparable. The lowest
rankings (10, 11, 12) are all recoded to 10. The ranks are then reversed so that the crime item given the highest rank,
the crime occurring most often is coded 10, the second highest coded 9, and so on. The 10-point scale reads the
higher the score the more frequent the crime as perceived and ranked by the respondents.
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department.
Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
sample respondents than any other crime grouping. Drugs, alcohol and driving, and domestic
violence are the most frequently occurring crimes within reservation communities, according to
our sample. The scale method for determining frequency of crimes has the advantage of
requiring the respondent to make choices, but limits any holistic or contextual discussion of the
crime-frequency information. The second cluster of most frequent crimes, ranging from 5.8 to
5.3, includes aggravated assault, larceny or theft, child abuse, and burglary. Child abuse and
Figure 10.1
aggravated assault are crimes of excessive force, while burglary, larceny, and theft are property
crimes. Both types of crimes are possibly linked to the drug and alcohol use implied in the first
cluster of crimes. Drug use and alcohol use may lead to theft or property crimes, and are often
associated with domestic violence, child-abuse, and aggravated-assault situations. A third cluster
of crimes is ranked by all respondents as lowest in frequency, with ranking scores ranging from
3.6 to 1.3. Automobile theft, robbery, rape, arson, and homicide are rated by all respondents as
low-frequency crimes in reservation communities.
The rankings for law enforcement priority suggest respondents perceive that police give
attention to crimes in somewhat different patterns than crime frequency. Respondents say that
law enforcement gives most attention to domestic violence, DUIs, and drug offenses with scores
281
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Under PL280 – Quantitative Analysis
8/4/06 page 2
Ranking of Crime Frequency & Law Enforcement Priority by All Respondents
7.9 8.0
5.8 5.7
5.5
5.3
3.0
2.4
2.0
1.3
8.0
3.6
6.0
3.8
3.5
6.8
7.2
6.9
3.7
4.3
3.4
2.2
4.7
5.9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
domestic violence
DUI
drug offenses
aggravated assault
larceny, theft
child abuse
burglary
auto theft
robbery
rape
arson
homicide
R
a
n
k
reported occurrence
law enforcement priority
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
ranking from 6.8 to 7.2. The middle cluster of crimes, containing aggravated assault, larceny or
theft, child abuse, and burglary, range from 4.3 to 6.0. A third cluster of crimes ranges from 3.8
to 2.2.
The low-end, third cluster of crimes, the crimes ranked as low priority for police,
includes automobile theft, robbery, rape, arson, and homicide. The rankings form clusters of
crimes that are similar for respondents who perceive domestic violence, DUIs, and drug offenses
as the most frequent crimes, and the crimes that gain the highest priority for police. The crime
cluster of aggravated assault, larceny or theft, child abuse and burglary is perceived as occurring
in medium frequencies and gains about a medium level of police attention. The third crime
cluster, of auto theft, robbery, rape, arson, and homicide, is ranked for lowest frequency and
gains the lowest attention from police.
The patterns of rankings for crime frequency and police priorities, however, show some
interesting disparities. Respondents rank crime frequency more extremely than police priorities.
The first cluster of crimes, including DV, DUIs, and drug offenses, are ranked higher than police
priorities; the lowest crime cluster, including auto theft, robbery, rape, arson, and homicide, is
ranked lower by frequency than by police priority. Respondents rank police crime priorities in a
flatter curve than they do crime frequencies. For high-frequency crimes, respondents perceive
that police are giving too little attention to high-frequency crimes and too much attention to lowfrequency crimes. The low-frequency crimes of rape, robbery, and homicide, according to
respondents, get too much police attention, although this may be understandable since all three
crimes involve extreme use of force. The high-frequency crimes of domestic violence, DUIs,
and drug offenses get the most police attention, but not enough attention to match crime
frequencies, according to respondents.
We investigate the discrepancies between crime frequency and police crime priorities
with statistical comparisons. By subtracting each individual respondent’s law enforcement
priority ranking from their ranking of crime frequency, a scale is generated that measures
discrepancy between police crime priority and crime-frequency scores. A positive score means
respondents rank police priority higher than crime frequency. A negative score means
respondents say that the frequency of the crime outranks the priority police give to the crime.
We can test for statistical differences to ascertain whether respondents believe police are giving
too much, not enough, or balanced attention to crimes according to frequency of occurrence.
Figure 10.2 presents the data on discrepancies between reported crime occurrence and
law enforcement priorities. We use the nonparametric statistic Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test,
which by convention is expressed as a “Z” value. Respondents say that homicide (Z =-8.46, p<.
001 ), rape (Z = -6.61, p<.001), robbery (Z = -5.50, p<.001), and child abuse (Z = -2.52, p<.012)
receive significantly more police attention than their reported occurrences suggest. Police have
balanced approaches to arson (Z = -1.82, p=.07, NS), aggravated assault (Z = -.073, p=.47, NS),
and auto theft (Z = -1.01, p=.31, NS). Respondents’ rankings of police priorities and crime
frequencies for arson, aggravated assault, and auto theft are not significantly different.
According to respondents, police provide about the same amount of attention to arson,
aggravated assault, and auto theft as the crimes occur in reservation communities. Crime
282
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
frequencies were ranked higher than police priority for burglary (Z = -3.3 p<.001), DUIs (Z
=-3.64, p<.001), drug offenses (Z = -5.37 p<.001), domestic violence (-6.73, p<.001), and
larceny/theft (Z = -6.79, p<.001). Respondents believe that police give significantly less
attention to burglary, DUIs, drug offenses, domestic violence, and larceny-theft than their
occurrence in reservation communities. The most frequent crimes on reservations — drug
offenses, domestic violence, and DUIs — are given too little attention by police. The property
crimes of
Figure 10.2
burglary, larceny, and theft are not given enough police attention. The low-frequency crimes of
homicide, rape and robbery are given too much police attention and time. Many low-frequency
crimes are violent and gain police attention, but respondents say police give too much attention
to the violent, low-frequency crimes, and not enough attention to the social and economic effects
of alcohol and drug crimes that often are related to domestic violence and, perhaps, to property -
theft crimes. Respondents indicate that police have a hard time matching crime priorities with
crime frequencies. Police tend to spend too much time on less frequent crimes and not enough
attention on more frequent crimes. Respondent rankings indicate that police should spend
proportionately more time solving the probably interrelated issues of alcohol and drug crimes,
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Under PL280 – Quantitative Analysis
8/4/06 page 4
Discrepancies Between Reported Occurrence and Law Enforcement Priority
2.11
1.29
0.85
0.45
0.20
0.12
-0.11
-0.56
-0.77
-1.08
-1.12
-1.35
note:
differences over 0.50
are significant at the .01 level
priority outranks occurance
occurance outranks priority
auto theft
burglary
DUI
drug offenses
domestic violence
larceny, theft
homicide
rape
robbery
child abuse
arson
aggravated assault
283
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
domestic violence, and property theft, and give proportionately less attention to the violent but
low-frequency crimes of child abuse, homicide, rape, and robbery.
The investigation of the crime frequency and police priorities of all respondents gives an
overall view of sample perceptions. Our primary task, however, is to investigate differences in
Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions and group differences between reservation
residents, law enforcement personnel, and criminal justice personnel. In the following sections
we examine jurisdiction and group effects through investigation of qualitative and quantitative
data about crime frequencies, police priorities, and processes of crime reporting and
management.
