Policing a Pandemic in New York City: How Do Community Features Matter in the Location of Social Distancing Violations?

This study assesses the contextual role that race/ethnicity play in predicting the enforcement of COVID-19 precautions during the early stages of the pandemic. We draw upon 311 police service calls pertaining to social distancing violations in New York City to investigate whether Black and Hispanic communities are less likely to call in social distancing violations as well as whether racial/ethnic composition influences law enforcement response. We conduct negative binomial models estimating spatial effects and controlling for the number of COVID-19 cases, police behavior (arrests, stop and frisks, community complaints), community social networks, and other demographic characteristics. We find the racial/ethnic disparities in law enforcement response and intervention in social distancing violations exist independently of local COVID-19 rates. There are fewer calls for social distancing violations in Black communities, but the likelihood of law enforcement intervening in COVID-19 violations, including arrests, is stronger in Black and Hispanic communities than in White communities.