A spatial distribution of calls for service in Texas suburbs: Macro- and micro -level approaches

Under a long-established assumption, a suburb has been regarded as an area with socioeconomic homogeneity and without social problems like crime. This assumption, however, could not remain valid as the rapid suburbanization since the 1970s has diversified the picture of suburbs, which consequently led to an increase in crime rates and other social problems. This study attempted to examine spatial aspects of crime in suburban areas by applying macro- and micro-level analyses, which have been developed through abundant studies in large cities.;This study used calls for service (N = 19,076) gathered in four suburban cities in Texas in 2003 and 2000 Census data. On the macro-level analysis, social disorganization theory was partially supported; while poverty and racial/ethnic heterogeneity were found to be positively related with crime in a significant way, residential mobility was negatively related with crime. It may be because more crime occurred in poor minority neighborhoods where residential moves were hampered by limited economic resources and residential segregation. Moreover, it was found that social disorganization could account for the variance in other social problems like disturbance and social service.;In terms of a micro-level analysis, this study conducted the nearest neighbor hierarchical clustering (Nnh) technique to identify hot spots in Euless, one of the Texas suburbs. Most crime hot spots were found to correspond to both disturbance and civil service hot spots. Regardless of the types, hot spots were more likely to be located in minority homerenter areas with a higher proportion of younger people. In addition, hot spots blocks could be better clustered by the race/ethnic composition, the rate of rental household, and crime rates in the neighboring area.;This study concludes that the ecological process mostly discussed in inner-cities may occur in suburbs, catalyzed by an unnatural factor like rapid suburbanization. This study also suggests that police agencies, in their hot spot strategies, understand underlying reasons of the frequent calls and dynamics between hot spots and the neighboring area.