Equity in the Police Districting Problem: Balancing Territorial and Racial Fairness in Patrolling Operations

Abstract Objectives The Police Districting Problem concerns the definition of patrol districts that distribute police resources in a territory such way high-risk areas receive more patrolling time than low-risk areas, according to principle territorial fairness. This results configurations are efficient and effective at controlling crime but that, same time, might exacerbate racial disparity stops arrests. In this paper, an Equitable combines crime-reduction effectiveness with fairness is proposed. capability model designing find balance between assessed. Also, trade-off these two criteria analyzed. Methods defined as mixed-integer program. objective function formulated using Compromise Programming Goal Programming. validated on real-world case study Central District Madrid, Spain, its solutions compared standard currently used by police. Results A control detected. However, experiments show including proposed criterion optimization greatly improves limited detriment policing effectiveness. produces dominate use Conclusions successfully provides quantitative evaluation capable defining terms both