ew York City's very significant build-up in the size of its police force in the 1990s has been accompanied by a larger drop in crime (in both absolute and percentage terms) than in any other major American city. However, a number of other large cities have also enjoyed significant (albeit somewhat smaller) drops in crime during the 1990s, and some have done so with much less sizable build-ups in police staffing. In other cities, crime declined significantly even with decreases in police force size. These were among the major findings of an analysis IBO completed in March 1998.

With a staff in early 1999 of nearly 40,000 uniformed police personnel, New York City now has 54 police officers per 10,000 residents, which is about double the average in America's largest cities. The number of police officers employed by New York City has now increased by about 25 percent since 1990, in large part as a result of the Safe Streets, Safe City initiative launched in 1991 by the City Council and former Mayor David Dinkins. Over the course of the past year, Mayor Giuliani and the Council combined city resources with federal Crime Bill funds to expand the force to its current size, which is about 2,000 police officers beyond the level called for in Safe Streets.

With respect to IBO's inter-city comparison of changes in crime rate versus changes in police staffing, we found the experience in San Diego to be particularly noteworthy. As displayed in the accompanying table, that city enjoyed a drop in crime from 1990 to 1997 nearly as great as in New York, but did so with virtually no change in per capita police staffing versus our city's 18 percent build-up. Also of interest were the experiences in Dallas, El Paso, and Seattle. Each of those cities also experienced significant drops in crime between 1990 and 1997, but did so with only very small increases or even decreases in per capita police staffing.

"Like many American cities, New York City has expanded police staffing in the 1990s," said IBO Director Douglas Criscitello. He added that, "While it certainly seems reasonable to assume that the growth in size and strategic deployment of our city's police force in the 1990s has played a significant role in New York City's highly welcomed decline in crime, our review of data from across the country raises questions as to the precise relationship between police staffing levels and crime reduction. Therefore, any future proposals to further enlarge our police force should certainly be subjected to serious review."