New Faces Changing Spaces: How Gentrification Shapes Demand for Policing

• In Event: Changing Neighborhoods: The Dynamics of Gentrification and Displacement

Abstract

How does gentrification impact individual demand for policing? Previous research finds that gentrification is associated with more calls to the police but cannot show which residents make these calls or evaluate explanations for why these calls occur. My individual-level approach allows me to test ethnographic findings about gentrifiers’ demand for policing. Using a within-subject design that matches 2014-2021 voter file data with call records from Austin, TX, I show that gentrifiers make more calls to the police than long-term residents in gentrifying neighborhoods and that this increasing call volume is associated with the act of moving. Specifically, I show that gentrifiers demand more policing when they move into spaces with relatively greater poverty and more non-white residents regardless of changes in crime. These findings challenge the common assumption that crime alone drives demand for policing, instead highlighting the impact of race and class in shaping political behavior in gentrifying contexts.

Author

• Allison Verrilli, University of Texas, Austin