Aggressive Policing and Academic Outcomes: Examining the Impact of Police “Surges” in NYC Students’ Home Neighborhoods

POLICY BRIEF

Joscha Legewie Chelsea Farley Kayla Stewart

May 2019

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AGGRESSIVE POLICING AND ACADEMIC OUTCOMES:

EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF POLICE “SURGES” IN NYC

STUDENTS’ HOME NEIGHBORHOODS

Over the last three decades, cities across the United States have adopted strategies

known as “proactive” or “broken windows” policing, with a focus on strict law

enforcement for low-level crimes and extensive pedestrian stops. These initiatives

have occurred disproportionately in poor communities of color.1 As a result, an

increasing number of students of color—particularly young men and boys—have

come into contact with the criminal justice system.2 A recent representative survey

of 15-year-old urban youth found, for example, that 39 percent of Black boys had

been stopped by the police at least once, compared to 23 percent of White boys.3 In

New York City, the police conducted more than 4 million pedestrian stops between

2004 and 2012; over 85 percent of those stopped were Black or Latino, and most

were under age 25.4

While the City’s approach to policing has changed since 2012—including the end of

“stop and frisk” policies deemed racially discriminatory by the courts—many young

people of color, in NYC and across the country, continue to live in communities with

a heavy police presence. Yet, to date, there has been relatively little research on how

this impacts students’ educational outcomes. How does aggressive policing in a young

person’s community affect their engagement and performance in school? Do these

effects differ based on students’ age, race, or gender? And how can schools support

students who may be exposed to aggressive policing? This brief begins to answer these

questions, presenting findings from a new study (described more fully in this article

in the American Sociological Review) and highlighting some important implications

for policy and practice.5

About the Study

To begin to address these questions, we focused on the New York Police

Department’s (NYPD) Operation Impact—a policing program that was

implemented from 2004 to 2014 and increased the intensity of broken windows

policing in selected NYC neighborhoods. Our study relies on the staggered

implementation of Operation Impact, which quickly increased the number of police

officers in specific high-crime areas designated as “impact zones” at different points in

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time.6 Starting in January 2004, the NYPD deployed around 1,500 recent police

academy graduates to impact zones, where they were expected to maintain order

through frequent pedestrian stops and strict law enforcement. The high concentration

of officers in impact zones produced a substantial increase in policing activity and a

modest decrease in violent crime. During the period of our study (2004-2012), the

NYPD continuously adapted the program by expanding, moving, removing or adding

impact zones roughly every six months. During this time, 18 percent of Black, 15

percent of Latino, and 1 percent of White elementary and middle public school

students in New York City lived in an impact zone for some period of time.

To understand the effect of Operation Impact on educational performance, we linked

information about impact zones with student administrative data from the 2003-2004

school year through the 2011-2012 school year. We examined students’ scores on

standardized state tests before, during and after Operation Impact’s implementation

in their home neighborhood. We then compared these trends with those of similar

students living in neighborhoods that did not experience a police surge at the same

time (because they were designated as an impact zone at a different time). This

allowed us to isolate the effect of an increased police presence, above and beyond

other factors that might influence a student’s educational performance, including

living in a high-crime neighborhood.

Key Findings

To what extent does youth exposure to the police vary, based on age, race and gender?

We combined data from the NYPD’s stop and frisk program with data from the 2010

US Census to examine how the rate of police stops differs for young people, based on

their age, race and gender. As shown in Figure 1 below, during the study period, the

rate of police stops was substantially lower for girls than boys, reflecting national

patterns. Among boys, there were large racial disparities, particularly as they got

older. At age 12, encounters with the police were relatively rare for White, Latino,

and Black boys alike. Between 13 and 15, however, Black boys began to experience

a dramatic increase in the rate of police stops that far exceeded those of their White

and Latino peers. (For more information about this analysis, see our Spotlight post or

our article in Socius.7)

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Figure 1: Average Yearly Rate of Police Stops per 1,000 NYC Residents, by Race, Gender and Age, 2004 – 2012

Source: Population data are from the 2010 Decennial census, Summary File 1, Table PCT012. Data on police

stops are from the NYPD and available here.

Note: The stop rate is averaged over the years so that it reflects the average rate of police steps per 1,000 NYC

residents between 2004 and 2012.

How did police surges affect crime in the targeted neighborhoods?

The data show declines in violent crime following the introduction of Operation

Impact in targeted neighborhoods. During the program’s implementation, the

number of violent crimes decreased to about 5 percent below the level in comparable

areas. Violent crime rates returned to pre-surge levels when neighborhoods were no

longer designated as impact zones. Property crime levels remained the same before,

during and after Operation Impact.

Substantial research has shown that violent crime in a student’s residential

environment can have a negative impact on cognitive development, school

performance, and mental health.8 Thus, one might expect that the reduced level of

violent crime in impact zones increased students’ academic performance. As we

describe below, this was not the case.

How did police surges affect students’ academic performance?

Figure 2 below shows the effects of Operation Impact on students’ English Language

Arts (ELA) standardized test scores. It is important to note that this analysis does not

consider whether individual students actually had encounters with the police, but

rather how living in an impact zone influenced their academic achievement. We found

that ELA test scores for Latino students and Black girls were unaffected by a higher

4 AGGRESSIVE POLICING AND ACADEMIC OUTCOMES

police presence in their neighborhood. This was also true for Black boys aged 9 and

10. However, for older Black boys, police surges had an increasingly negative

influence on test scores. At age 12, the effect was statistically significant, but modest

in size. For 13- to 15-year-old students, the effect was substantial. The effect size

corresponds to about a fifth of the Black-White test score gap9 and is similar to that

of a number of popular interventions designed to increase educational achievement

(e.g., improving teacher quality 10 ). Put another way, the negative impact of

aggressive policing on Black male students’ ELA achievement is large enough to cancel

out the potential benefits of other (often costly) interventions.

Figure 2: Effect of Living in an Impact Zone on English Language Arts (ELA) Test Scores, by Race, Gender and Age

Source: Data on students were provided to the Research Alliance by the NYC DOE. Data on Operation Impact

were provided by the NYPD.

Note: Table shows students’ age when they took the ELA test. Circles with lines represent point estimates with

95% confidence intervals. The sample size is 195,743 for Black boys, 210,566 for Black girls, 200,830 for Latino

boys, and 208,244 for Latina girls. Full regression tables are presented in Table A2 and A3 of our article in the

American Sociological Review.

When we looked at the impact on math test scores, we saw a similar pattern, with

small or no effects for the younger Black boys (as well as for Latino students and girls),

but an increasing effect size for older Black boys. However, the effect size was

somewhat smaller for math scores than for ELA scores.

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Implications for Policy and Practice

Overall, our analyses reveal a substantial negative impact from aggressive, order-

maintenance policing on the educational outcomes of Black boys who happened to

live in the affected neighborhoods. As we discuss below, these findings suggest

important considerations for policymakers, police department and school district

officials, and educators:

Implications for Policy

• Consider the potential social costs of aggressive policing in communities.

In 2013, a federal judge found that NYC’s stop and frisk program constituted “a policy

of indirect racial profiling.” Litigation continued, but the program was officially ended

in early 2014 after Mayor de Blasio (who had campaigned against stop and frisk) took

office. The recorded number of police stops then plummeted—falling from their

peak of more than 685,000 in 2011 to around 18,000 in 2015.11 Still, advocates have

argued that while official stops in the City have fallen dramatically, “low level”

encounters—which involve police questioning (but not “detaining”) citizens—

continue to happen at high rates in some neighborhoods. These types of encounters

do not have to be recorded.12 More broadly, stop and frisk or broken windows

approaches to policing remain in effect in cities around the country. These policies

have been implemented in a variety of ways, and evidence about their impact on crime

is mixed.13

Our study found a modest decrease in violent crime as a result of Operation Impact.

This might have been expected to improve the educational performance of students

living in those areas. Instead, we found the opposite, at least for older Black boys,

whose ELA and math test scores declined following police surges in their home

neighborhood. These findings highlight the need to consider a range of potential costs

associated with aggressive policing in communities. Our study’s focus on

neighborhood-level exposure is particularly important. It shows that the

consequences of the criminal justice system are not confined to those who are

incarcerated, arrested or even stopped by the police, but extend to entire

communities—with racial disparities in the criminal justice system helping to

perpetuate racial inequalities in education. Policymakers should consider these and

other potential ripple effects when evaluating law enforcement policies and

approaches.

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• Clarify the role of police officers in schools.

The memorandum of understanding that currently governs the presence of NYPD

officers in NYC schools dates back to 1998. In 2016, a report from the Mayor’s

Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline recommended rewriting this

agreement “to ensure that school-based arrests, summonses and school-based crime

continue to decline and that New York City schools promote a positive school

climate.” The changes that were proposed included limiting the involvement of police

officers in responding to many types of disciplinary issues and curbing the use of

handcuffs and student searches. 14 The findings from our study underscore the

importance of updating this memorandum to clarify the role that police officers

should play in NYC schools. If aggressive policing in communities harms the

educational performance of some students, it is not unreasonable to theorize that it

could also have a detrimental effect inside of schools. An updated memorandum of

understanding could provide guidance for educators and police officers to help them

mitigate this risk and prioritize the development of positive, supportive relationships

with students.

Implications for School Practice

The findings from this study speak to a reality that students, and by extension, their

schools face. What options are available to educators who want to proactively address

the negative effects that aggressive policing in neighborhoods has been shown to have,

particularly for Black boys? The Research Alliance has conducted fieldwork in a large

number of schools that are actively focused on improving the educational experiences

and outcomes of Black male students, including 40 high schools that participated in

NYC’s Expanded Success Initiative (ESI). Our evaluation of ESI highlighted a number

of strategies these schools used to support young men of color—some of which are

especially relevant in light of the current findings. These include:

• Create safe spaces for students and foster meaningful, supportive relationships.

The current study highlights the ways that experiences outside of the classroom can

impact students’ engagement and achievement in school. Teachers, administrators,

and other school staff can acknowledge this and work to create a warm, supportive

educational environment where students feel safe, comfortable, and cared for.

Educators in ESI schools described doing this through mentoring programs, student

advisories, and a variety of other efforts designed to promote strong, supportive

relationships among students and between students and staff. Our evaluation suggests

7

that these strategies did in fact enhance students’ perceptions of school: Black and

Latino young men in ESI schools reported a stronger sense of belonging and fair

treatment, compared to similar students in non-ESI schools.

• Consider restorative approaches to address student discipline and conflict.

Given the impact of aggressive policing on Black boys’ attendance and learning, it

seems important to avoid reproducing these same dynamics inside of schools. Yet

research consistently shows that punitive disciplinary actions, including suspensions,

expulsions and school-based arrests, disproportionately affect Black male students.15

Many schools, in NYC and around the country, have a strong police presence. For

example, a recent report by the ACLU found that millions of U.S. students attend

schools with police in the building, but no counselors, nurses, school psychologists,

or social workers.16 The same study found a 17-perent increase in school-based

referrals to law enforcement between the 2013-2014 and 2015-2016 schools years.

In response to these challenges, many educators have begun to experiment with less

punitive approaches to student discipline. ESI schools, for example, adopted a variety

of approaches under the heading of “restorative justice,” including conflict resolution

training for students, peer mediation, and youth courts. These kinds of strategies may

enable schools to address misbehavior without “criminalizing” it, and provide students

with valuable opportunities to repair harm to relationships or the community.

In recent years, the NYC Department of Education has moved to reduce the use of

suspensions and revised the disciplinary code to promote more restorative approaches

to student discipline. Some stakeholders have argued that educators are not receiving

sufficient training or support around these new approaches.17 Rigorous research could

illuminate the impact of these approaches for students and schools and provide

guidance about the types of training and support that educators find most useful.

• Elicit and learn from the perspective of students.

Our findings about the impacts of aggressive policing suggest that it may be valuable

for schools and districts to gather information about students’ experiences with and

perspectives on the police. Currently, the annual NYC School Survey includes a

question about students’ feelings of safety on the way to and from school, as well as a

question about School Safety Agents (i.e., police officers who are assigned to work in

particular schools). Student responses to these questions, including analyses of how

they vary over time and across students, could provide useful information to

8 AGGRESSIVE POLICING AND ACADEMIC OUTCOMES

educators and policymakers. In addition, the district might consider incorporating a

new question that asks about students’ exposure to and relationships with police

officers in their home neighborhoods.

Our study also provides hints about stresses that many Black male students encounter

in their communities—and how these stresses can harm their academic performance.

These findings suggest that it may be worthwhile for schools and districts to find ways

of collecting more information about students’ mental and physical health. This could

help educators identify students who are struggling with issues outside of school, so

they can be connected with needed services. Such data would also be valuable for

future research about how physical and mental health issues influence school

performance, and about the effectiveness of services aimed at addressing these issues.

Conclusion

As educators and policymakers strive to foster inclusive school communities that

promote better outcomes for students of color, it is essential to understand how

external factors shape students’ engagement and achievement in school. The findings

from this study highlight one important example: the way that aggressive policing in

communities can harm Black boys’ educational performance, as measured by state

tests. As discussed above, this raises questions about how to evaluate the ripple effects

of law enforcement policies, how to define the relationship between schools and the

police, and how educators can best support students who experience aggressive

policing in their communities. More broadly, the study highlights the ways that

systems outside of education can affect student outcomes. It follows, then, that fully

addressing educational inequality will require reforms not only in schools but in other

systems and institutions that shape young people’s lives.

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Endnotes1 Howell, K. B. (2016). The Costs of “Broken

Windows” Policing: Twenty Years and Counting. New York, NY: City University of New York (CUNY).

Oberman, J. & K. Johnson (2016). “The Underbelly of the Beast: Misdemeanor Practice in the Era of Broken Windows and Saturation Policing.” Cardozo Law Review, 37(3), 931-954.

Kamalu, N. & E. Onyeozili (2016). “A Critical Analysis of the ‘Broken Windows’ Policing in New York City and Its Impact: Implications for the Criminal Justice System and the African American Community.” African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies, 11(1), 71-94.

2 Brame, R., M. G. Turner, R. Paternoster, & S. D. Bushway (2012). “Cumulative Prevalence of Arrest from Ages 8 to 23 in a National Sample.” Pediatrics, 129 (1), 21-27.

Hagan, J., C. Shedd, M.R. Payne (2005). “Race, Ethnicity, and Youth Perceptions of Criminal Injustice.” American Sociological Review, 70(3), 381-407.

3 Geller, A., J. Fagan, & T. Tyler (2018). “Do the Ends Justify the Means? Policing and Rights Tradeoffs in New York City.” Working Paper 14-581. New York, NY: Columbia Law School.

4 Fagan, J., A. Geller, G. Davies, & V. West (2009). “The Demography and Logic of Proactive Policing in a Safe and Changing City.” In S. Rice and M. D. White (Eds.) Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings, 309-348. New York, NY: Columbia Public Law.

Dunn, C. (2019). Stop and Frisk in the De Blasio Era. New York, NY: New York Civil Liberties Union.

5 Legewie, J., & Fagan, J. (2019). “Aggressive Policing and the Educational Performance of Minority Youth.” American Sociological Review, 84(2), 220–247.

6 Golden M. & C. Almo (2004). Reducing Gun Violence: An Overview of New York City’s

Strategies. New York, NY: Vera Institute of Justice.

7 Figures, K. D., & Legewie, J. (2019). “Visualizing Police Exposure by Race, Gender and Age in New York City.” Socius. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023119828913

8 Haskins, A. R. (2014). “Unintended Consequences: Effects of Paternal Incarceration on Child School Readiness and Later Special Education Placement.” Sociological Science, 1, 141–58.

Haskins, A. R., Jacobsen, W. C. (2017). “Schools as Surveilling Institutions? Paternal Incarceration, System Avoidance, and Parental Involvement in Schooling.” American Sociological Review, 82(4), 657-84.

Wakefield, S. & Uggen, C. (2010). “Incarceration and Stratification.” Annual Review of Sociology, 36(1), 387-406.

9 The Black-White test score gap is 0.72 standard deviations in our sample, so an effect size of –.136 and –.150 standard deviations (depending on the model specification) corresponds to 19 or 21 percent of the Black-White gap.

10 Research shows that increasing teacher quality by 1 standard deviation corresponds to 0.15–0.20 increase in reading test scores. See Rivkin, S., E. Hanushek, & J. Kain (2005). “Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement.” Econometrica, 73(2), 417-58.

Rockoff, Jonah E. 2004. “The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data.” American Economic Review, 94(2), 247-52.

11 Cullen, J. (2016). “Ending New York’s Stop-and-Frisk Did Not Increase Crime.” Brenner Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/ending-new-yorks-stop-and-frisk-did-not-increase-crime

Zimroth, Peter L., 2017. “Fifth Report of the Independent Monitor: Analysis of

10 AGGRESSIVE POLICING AND ACADEMIC OUTCOMES

NYPD Stops Reported 2013-2015.” http://nypdmonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017-05-30-MonitorsFifthReport-AnalysisofNYPDStopsReported2013-2015-Asfiled.pdf

12 See, for example: Zimmer, K. & E. Hansen. (2018). “‘Stop and Frisk’ is Over, But Low-Level NYPD Encounters Now Raise Concerns.” City Limits. https://citylimits.org/2018/06/21/stop-and-frisk-is-over-but-low-level-nypd-encounters-now-raise-concerns/

13 Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. “Broken Windows Policing.” Farifax, VA: George Mason University. https://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/what-works-in-policing/research-evidence-review/broken-windows-policing/

14 City of New York (2019). Maintaining the Momentum: A Plan for Safety and Fairness in

Schools. https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/sclt/downloads/pdf/SCLT_Report_7-21-16.pdf

15 Anyon, Y., J. Jenson, I. Altschul, J. Farrar, J. Mcqueen, E. Greer, B. Downing & J. Simmons (2014). “The Persistent Effect of Race and the Promise of Alternatives to Suspension in School Discipline Outcomes.” Children and Youth Services Review, 44, 379-386.

16 Whitaker et al. (2019). Cops and No Counselors: How the Lack of School Mental Health Staff Is Harming Students. New York, NY: American Civil Liberties Union.

17 See, for example, Algar, S., N. Hicks, and L. Italiano (2019). “UFT Boss: City’s Approach to School Discipline is ‘Broken’.” New York Post. https://nypost.com/2019/03/07/uft-boss-citys-approach-to-school-discipline-is-broken/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cb_bureau_ny

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Acknowledgments

Joscha Legewie received support for this study from the National Science Foundation (grant 1850666). Several colleagues at the Research Alliance read and provided valuable feedback on drafts of the brief, including James Kemple, Adriana Villavicencio, and Lisa Merrill. The NYCDOE’s Research and Policy Support Group also reviewed a draft and provided helpful comments.

Research Alliance publications are supported by a small group of funders who underwrite our core operations, including flexible research capacity, communications, and public engagement efforts. These funders include Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation.

Our publications reflect the findings, interpretations and conclusions of the Research Alliance and not necessarily those of our funders or Steering Committee members.

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