Temporal Variations in Calls for Police Service During COVID-19: Evidence From China

This study examined the temporal variations in calls for service before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in China using a sample of 37,124 police service calls made from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020 to a 110 command center in a county-level city in Hubei Province. There was...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Dai, Mengliang (Author) ; Xia, Yiwei (Author) ; Han, Rongxu (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
In: Crime & delinquency
Year: 2022, Volume: 68, Issue: 8, Pages: 1183-1206
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Keywords:
Covid-19
China
calls for police service
Lockdown
temporal variation
Description
Summary:This study examined the temporal variations in calls for service before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in China using a sample of 37,124 police service calls made from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020 to a 110 command center in a county-level city in Hubei Province. There was a significant temporal effect, and the calls for service peaked between 08:00 and 19:59 throughout the entire period. The busiest hours of the day for calls for police service were between 12:00 and 19:59, and the calls peaked between 12:00 and 15:59 during the lockdown. The distribution of calls by weekday showed no significant pattern, with the exception of traffic-related calls. The results are discussed from the perspective of routine activity theory.
ISSN:1552-387X
DOI:10.1177/00111287221074942