Experiences of policing in gentrifying neighborhoods
Evidence from Chicago
Matthew D. Nelsen (University of Miami), Kumar Ramanathan (University of Chicago), and Tom Ogorzalek (Center for Urban Research, CUNY)
Cities in the United States are well known for their segregation and sharply different experiences of policing across neighborhood boundaries. Extensive social science research has shown that “race-class subjugated neighborhoods” with concentrated populations of low-income Black and Latino residents experience harsh and punitive policing, whereas high-income and mostly-white neighborhoods experience limited police contact. In the former neighborhoods, residents also express frustration that policing does not address concerns about crime or violence, leading to these neighborhoods being simultaneously “over-policed and under-protected.”
In recent decades, the geography of many U.S. cities has undergone significant changes. Many neighborhoods near downtown areas that suffered from decades of redlining and disinvestment have experienced economic revitalization and the influx of more affluent, mostly-white residents in a process commonly called “gentrification.” Residents, scholars, and activists have expressed concerns that gentrification ultimately leads to the complete displacement of longtime residents and a new version of segregation. While the process is occurring, however, these neighborhoods include both affluent, mostly white newcomers and poorer, mostly non-white longtime residents. Our article examines how policing is experienced in gentrifying neighborhoods. Do unequal policing practices across lines of segregation persist or transform? To what extent is policing part of the interaction between gentrifiers and longtime residents?
To investigate these questions, we turned to the case of Chicago, a major city that sees its share of gentrification, overpolicing, and underprotection. The city is also our home, so we also bring our knowledge as residents to this study. First, we had to identify gentrifying neighborhoods. We used data on neighborhood-level changes in income, racial composition, rent, education, and new residents to develop a measure of gentrification. The map in Figure 1 shows the neighborhoods we identified as gentrifying, which matches prior research and public perceptions well.
To examine individuals’ experiences, we conducted an original survey of Chicago residents in 2018. We surveyed 657 residents of the city, including 198 residents of gentrifying neighborhoods. We also used this survey to develop a measure of gentrifier status based on respondents’ education, income, racial identity, and newcomer status. This measure enables us to compare gentrifiers and longtime residents in gentrifying neighborhoods, and to compare each group with residents of high socioeconomic-status neighborhoods and low socioeconomic-status neighborhoods respectively.
Our first major finding is that the phenomenon of race-class subjugated communities being “over-policed and under-protected” persists even within gentrifying neighborhoods. We found that gentrifiers expressed lower levels of concern about crime and lower rates of negative interactions with police than longtime residents. Indeed, gentrifiers’ responses to these questions were similar to residents of high socio-economic status neighborhoods, whereas longtime residents’ responses were similar to residents of low socio-economic status neighborhoods. These results suggest that longstanding patterns of unequal policing that harm low-income, non-white communities continue even without the sharp neighborhood segregation that characterized U.S. cities in the 20th century.
Figure 1: Neighborhood Types, Chicago
Our second major finding pertains to gentrifiers’ direct engagement with the police. Many earlier studies, using interviews or ethnographies, have found that gentrifiers play a direct role in subjecting their neighbors to punitive policing by calling the police about minor issues or participating in neighborhood watch groups. In our survey, we found that gentrifiers were on average less likely to call the police than their neighbors. At first glance, this may seem to conflict with the earlier studies. Closer examination helps us reconcile the two findings. Beyond asking respondents if they called the police, we also asked them an open-ended question about why they call the police. The subset of gentrifiers who did call the police were more likely to mention quality-of-life issues such as noise complaints or loitering compared to longtime residents. This aligns with prior studies’ findings that quality-of-life policing is more common in gentrifying neighborhoods. We also examined crime reporting data from the Chicago Police Department and found that quality-of-life crimes are more commonly reported in gentrifying neighborhoods in the city compared to other neighborhoods. Taken together, these pieces of evidence suggest that while the average gentrifier may be less likely to call the police, a subset of gentrifiers do call on the police in a manner that subjects their neighbors to punitive policing.
This paper provides insights for both social scientists seeking to better understand the process of gentrification and for community leaders hoping to address the negative effects of gentrification. For social scientists, this study shows how survey data can be used to not only understand the attitudes and behaviors of residents experiencing gentrification. For community leaders, our findings can help inform organizing to address the consequences of gentrification. Highlighting disparities in police-resident interactions at the neighborhood level may provide an important civic learning experience for gentrifiers and inform local political debates about policing policies.
Matthew D. Nelsen is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Miami. He studies how local institutions, including schools and neighborhoods, shape political attitudes and behaviors along the lines of race and ethnicity using mixed-methods research designs. He is the author of The Color of Civics: Civic Education for a Multiracial Democracy (Oxford 2023).
Kumar Ramanathan is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the GenForward Survey and the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago. He is a political scientist who studies U.S. politics with a focus on racial politics, American political development, public policy and law, and urban politics. His research has been published in Studies in American Political Development, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, and Political Research Quarterly.
Thomas K. Ogorzalek is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Urban Research at CUNY. He is the author of The Cities on the Hill: How Urban Institutions Transformed National Politics (Oxford 2018).