Understanding Police Alternatives: The Role of Stakeholders

Last registered on February 28, 2024

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Understanding Police Alternatives: The Role of Stakeholders

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0013061

Initial registration date

February 19, 2024

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

February 28, 2024, 4:39 PM EST

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

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

bocar ba

Affiliation

duke

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Meghna Baskar

PI Affiliation

duke

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2024-02-21

End date

2024-03-21

Keywords

Behavior, Crime, Violence, & Conflict, Governance

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Our study will examine how branding influences stakeholder engagement with government services and alternative solutions. Specifically, in the realm of policing and its alternatives, we plan to carry out an email experiment to distribute findings from previous research to key policymakers and civic leaders. Our aim is to gauge their interest in these results and their readiness to incorporate alternative public safety strategies into their community's governance framework.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

ba, bocar and Meghna Baskar. 2024. "Understanding Police Alternatives: The Role of Stakeholders ." AEA RCT Registry. February 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13061-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2024-02-21

Intervention End Date

2024-02-22

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Willingness to hear about the results

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Willingness to hear about the results: Binary variable (1/0) equals “1” if respondent says “yes: Measured by clicking the yes link our emails. Or by agreeing by direct email.”; and “0” otherwise

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Police alternatives would help police
Invitation for an interview

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Police alternatives would help police: Binary variable (1/0) equals “1” if respondent says “yes: Would implementing police alternatives help law enforcement officers to more effectively do their jobs?”; and “0” otherwise
Invitation for an interview: Binary variable (1/0) equals “1” if respondent says “yes: Would you be interested in being contacted for a follow-up Zoom interview to provide your opinion?”; and “0” otherwise.

Experimental Design

We randomize participants into two groups (50% in each treatment arm): (1) 911alternatives.com, (2) dontcallthepolice.com

Experimental Design Details

We conducted a field experiment to explore the policy implications of dontcallthepolice.com’s resources and to gauge receptiveness among key stakeholders. We will invite key stakeholders to receive information on research about police alternatives. We will vary the header of the email.
Subject line for ``911 alternatives”: “Seeking your expertise about 911alternatives.com: bi-partisan support for police alternatives”
Subject line for ``DCTP": “Seeking your expertise about dontcallthepolice.com: bi-partisan support for police alternatives”

We will send an initial email and 3 reminders, once per week.

Randomization Method

Using Stata MP18 and the following commands
*Randomization
set seed 2024
generate rannum = uniform()
egen treat = cut(rannum), group(2)

Randomization Unit

US county level

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N clusters=2773

Sample size: planned number of observations

Set of initial emails N=48595 Final sample is conditional on emails delivered, i.e., we will remove from the analysis emails where people respond back they don't want to be contacted, or the person has retired or left the organization, etc

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

N clusters in the 911 alternatives=1386
N observations in the 911 alternatives=23259
N clusters in the DCTP=1387
N observations in the DCTP=25336

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

N/A

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB