DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06172.v1
title: Reexamining the Minneapolis Repeat Complaint Address Policing (RECAP) Experiment, 1986-1987
title: Version 1

description: This study reexamines REPEAT COMPLAINT ADDRESS POLICING:
 TWO FIELD EXPERIMENTS IN MINNEAPOLIS, 1985-1987 (ICPSR 9788). The
 original Repeat Complaint Address Policing (RECAP) experiment was a
 field study of the strategy of problem-oriented policing, which used
 control and treatment groups consisting of specific addresses in the
 city of Minneapolis. The impact of problem-oriented policing was
 measured by comparing the number of 911 calls received for each
 address during a baseline period to the number received during a
 period when experimental treatments were in effect. Several features
 of the original data distort the one-to-one correspondence between a
 911 call and an event, such as the occurrence of multiple versions of
 the same call in the databases. The current study identifies and
 attempts to correct these occurrences by applying multiple levels of
 data cleaning procedures to the original data to establish a better
one-to-one call-to-event correspondence.
description: This study reexamines REPEAT COMPLAINT ADDRESS
 POLICING: TWO FIELD EXPERIMENTS IN MINNEAPOLIS, 1985-1987 (ICPSR
 9788), conducted by the Minneapolis Police Department and Lawrence W.
 Sherman of the Crime Control Institute. Several features of the
 original data distort the one-to-one correspondence between a 911 call
 and an event, such as the occurrence of multiple versions of the same
 call in the databases. The current study identifies and attempts to
 correct these occurrences by applying multiple levels of data cleaning
 procedures to establish a better one-to-one call-to-event
 correspondence. Using this data collection, researchers should be able
 to determine if the conclusions of the original study should be
 modified after the distortions in the original data have been
addressed.
description: The original RECAP study was designed as a
 randomized controlled field experiment to study the strategy of
 problem-oriented policing. It used individual geographic addresses in
 the city of Minneapolis as the unit of analysis and compiled a
 database from archived 911 computer tapes created by the Minneapolis
 Emergency Communications Center (MECC). Addresses were then ranked
 according to the frequency with which they appeared in the database.
 Five hundred addresses were chosen for the experiment and were
 randomly assigned to control and experimental groups, each consisting
 of 125 commercial and 125 residential addresses. The current study
 identifies three types of distortion in the original databases: True
 Mirrors, Contemporaneous Calls, and Migrating Calls. True Mirrors are
 multiple versions of a single call that are created by the
 idiosyncrasies of the MECC computer system. Contemporaneous Calls are
 multiple calls to MECC regarding a single event. Migrating Calls are
 calls that are associated with one address, but then are reassigned to
 another address, while the original address remains in the
 database. The data in this study are recreations of the original RECAP
 databases, which were then modified. (The actual databases of the
 original study were not available, and consequently it was necessary
 to reconstruct them.) The sixteen data files are organized such that
 each file corresponds to either an "A", "B", "C", or "D" level
 of data cleaning. Each file contains either commercial or residential
 addresses from either the baseline or experimental years. The "A"
 level data is a close approximation of the databases used in the
 original RECAP study. The "B" level data is a subset of the "A"
 level data created by deleting True Mirrors. The "C" level data are
 a subset of the "B" level data without concurrent calls regarding a
 single event. The "D" level data contain only dispatched calls to
an address.
description: The sixteen data files use the same
 variables. Each record contains information regarding a specific 911
 call. Data were collected on the volume of calls to an address, the
 date and time of the 911 call, the nature of the call (i.e., domestic
disturbance, traffic accident), and the disposition of the call.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Not applicable.
description: The original RECAP study used random selection of
 addresses. The current study modifies the random selection by the
application of data cleaning procedures.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: "A" Level, Commercial Addresses, Baseline Year
DS2: "A" Level, Commercial Addresses, Experimental Year
DS3: "A" Level, Residential Addresses, Baseline Year
DS4: "A" Level, Residential Addresses, Experimental Year
DS5: "B" Level, Commercial Addresses, Baseline Year
DS6: "B" Level, Commercial Addresses, Experimental Year
DS7: "B" Level, Residential Addresses, Baseline Year
DS8: "B" Level, Residential Addresses, Experimental Year
DS9: "C" Level, Commercial Addresses, Baseline Year
DS10: "C" Level, Commercial Addresses, Experimental Year
DS11: "C" Level, Residential Addresses, Baseline Year
DS12: "C" Level, Residential Addresses, Experimental Year
DS13: "D" Level, Commercial Addresses, Baseline Year
DS14: "D" Level, Commercial Addresses, Experimental Year
DS15: "D" Level, Residential Addresses, Baseline Year
DS16: "D" Level, Residential Addresses, Experimental Year
DS17: User Guide and Codebook for All Parts
DS18: SPSS Data Definition Statements for All Parts
DS19: SAS Data Definition Statements for All Parts
description: The sample was drawn from a universe consisting of the
 2,000 most frequently referenced addresses in calls to the Minneapolis
Emergency Communications Center (911) during 1986-1987.