Routine crime in exceptional times: The impact of the 2002 Winter Olympics on citizen demand for police services

By Scott Decker, Sean Verano and Jack Greene.

Despite their rich theoretical and practical importance, criminologists have paid scant attention to the patterns of crime and the responses to crime during exceptional events. Throughout the world large-scale political, social, economic, cultural, and sporting events have become commonplace. Natural disasters such as as blackouts, hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis present similar opportunities. Such events often tax the capacities of jurisdictions to provide safety and security in response to the exceptional to event, asas well asas toto meet thethe "“routine”routine" public safety needs. This article examines “routine” crime as measured by calls for police "routine" as by for service, official crime reports, and police arrests in Salt Lake City before, during, and after the 2002 Olympic Games. The analyses the suggest that while a rather benign demographic among attendees and the presence of large numbers of social control agents might have been expected to decrease calls for police service for minor crime, it actually increased in Salt Lake during this period. The it in Salt this implications of these findings are considered for theories of routine activities, as well as systems capacity.

Journal of Criminal Justice. 32. (2007) 89-101.