Citizen Participation and Trust in the Police: Evaluation of the Foros de Seguridad Pública of the City of Buenos Aires

Last registered on October 04, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Citizen Participation and Trust in the Police: Evaluation of the Foros de Seguridad Pública of the City of Buenos Aires
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012185
Initial registration date
September 26, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 04, 2023, 2:13 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Argentina
Region
Buenos Aires City

Primary Investigator

Name
Gwen-Jiro Clochard
Affiliation
Institute of Social and Economic Research - Osaka University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Franco Albino
PI Affiliation
Joint Initiative for Latin American Experimental Economics
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-10-01
End date
2024-05-01
Keywords
Crime, Violence, & Conflict
Additional Keywords
trust in the police, community policing, field experiment
JEL code(s)
C93, H56
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The City of Buenos Aires government organizes town hall meetings to discuss security issues with citizens every trimester. The present study aims to test the efficacy of this program on citizens' trust in the police. Our treatment will consist in an information provision to a random subset of participants.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Albino, Franco and Gwen-Jiro Clochard. 2023. "Citizen Participation and Trust in the Police: Evaluation of the Foros de Seguridad Pública of the City of Buenos Aires." AEA RCT Registry. October 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12185-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Information provision about the next security town hall organized by the Buenos Aires city government.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2023-10-01
Intervention End Date
2023-12-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Trust in the police
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Likert scale

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The sample will be randomly divided into either a treatment or a control group. We will measure trust at baseline for all participants using a questionnaire.

The questionnaire will be divided into two sections. In the first section, we will ask questions about trust in different institutions, especially in trust in the police. In the second section, we will ask demographic questions (age, education).

To keep track of participants, we will ask for the respondent's last 3 or 4 digits of their national ID number. This could serve to identify the respondent at baseline and endline, as well as at the FOSEP registry, and we will keep record of the address in which the interview was performed. We will go to the same address for the endline survey. The identifying information will be collected using pen and paper, and will never be matched with the participants' answers.

Regarding the treatment, this will consist in the provision of information about the FOSEP of the Comuna of the respondent. First, we will add to the questionnaire a question about whether the respondent knows about the FOSEP program and, if yes, whether he/she thinks it is a positive program. Second, we will handle the respondent a small information sheet about the next FOSEP in their Comuna, with the date and location and some information about the context of the experiment.

We will use the treatment to perform an intent-to-treat analysis. Our hypothesis is that the treatment will increase participation in the FOSEP and in turn, will lead to a change in trust in the police.

Once each Foro de Seguridad is over, we will return to each surveyed household or business to conduct the endline survey. In this part, we will again measure each respondent´s trust in the police. The aim is basically to measure the difference before and after the intervention's implementation in the difference in trust in the police between the treatment and the control group.

Interestingly, we will be able to perform an analysis of the diffusion of information, because the respondent in the household or business we will interview might change between the baseline and endline surveys.

Due to the fact that the treatment and the control group will be selected at random from the sample, any difference in the difference in trust in the police between TS and CS can be attributed to the intervention. The same is true for TO and CO. We will therefore have two main outcomes: the difference in the difference in trust in the police between TS and CS, as well as the same measure for TO and CO. Any result different from zero for this second outcome can be attributed to diffusion effects within each household or business.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization by computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Approx. 1000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approx. 1000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50% of sample, so approx. 500
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
[0.18; 0.26]
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
IRB Approval Date
2023-09-25
IRB Approval Number
20230904
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

FOSEP_PAP.pdf

MD5: a9fdc3318166e9be45a8fa4807d9c7f4

SHA1: 05687f8cc981bd711f9394c3d3c2f179df106e97

Uploaded At: September 26, 2023

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials