‘Re-Fund the Police’? Why It Might Not Reduce Crime.

Other anti-crime measures might be more effective, experts say, and avoid the downsides of policing.

In liberal Portland, Ore., which is facing its most violent year on record, the mayor announced a plan on Wednesday to put 200 more police officers on the streets. His announcement came a day after voters in Atlanta and in Seattle signaled their support for mayoral candidates who promised not to roll back the police force, but to expand it. In Maryland last month, Gov. Larry Hogan announced $150 million to “Re-fund the police.”

With shootings and homicides surging in many cities, calls to redirect money to policing are rising. But evidence that hiring more officers is the best way to reduce crime is mixed: Beefing up a police force can help, but the effects are modest and far from certain. Those who study the question say any declines in crime have to be weighed against the downsides of adding more police officers, including negative interactions with the public, police violence and further erosion of public trust.

And there is a bigger unknown: how police hiring compares with other anti-crime measures, such as providing more summer jobs or drug treatment programs, or even keeping the same number of officers but deploying them more strategically.