ACI Technical Report: Initial Measures Derived from Census

The decennial census provides a wealth of information about communities that has been mined by social scientist for decades. The purpose of this technical report is to describe an initial set of measures taken from or derived from the 2000 U.S. Census in an effort to develop a statistical description of Anchorage communities for use with the Anchorage Community Indicators project of the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center. The initial set of measures isolated from census are inspired by two principal bodies of work: (1) the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, an exceptionally well endowed research effort that took neighborhood measurement very seriously; and, (2) Peter Blau’s work that specifies parameter of social structure, heterogeneity, and inequality. The focus of the paper is on documenting how the measures were formed from 2000 Summary File 3 census tables. However, measures without conceptual content are of little value. Accordingly, the paper will offer a brief introduction to the derivative works (PHDCN, Blau) and then follow with a fairly detailed presentation of each measure (what concept is addressed, how it is measured, how the measure is distributed across block group and census tracts, and isolation of the census tables providing essential counts).Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods — Measures from Census / Peter Blau's Measures of Social Structure: Hetergeneity and Inequality Measures / Heterogeneity Measures (Industrial, Occupational, Racial) / Inequality Measures (Income Inequality) / Reference

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Community Survey, 2006: A Sourcebook of Community Attitudes

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Community Survey (Mat-Su Survey) was a cooperative effort on the part of Mat-Su College, the University of Alaska-Anchorage (UAA) and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough which asked Mat-Su Borough residents to evaluate the quality of Borough services, provide opinions about Borough decision-making, and sum up their perceptions about a range of issues relevant to the present and future of the Mat-Su community. The survey was distributed to every Borough household in the spring of 2006; a total of 2,600 were received, coded, and analyzed for the report. The Sourcebook provides detailed tabular results in six major areas: (1) evaluation of current borough services; (2) use of borough facilities; (3) life in Mat-Su neighborhoods; (4) local government access, policies, and practices; (5) higher education; and (6) respondent background information.Matanuska Susitna BoroughIntroduction / SECTION 1 DETAILED BOROUGH-WIDE RESULTS / Evaluation of Current Borough Services / Use of Borough Facilities / Life in Matanuska-Susitna Borough Neighborhoods / Local Government: Access, Policies and Practices / Higher Education / Respondent Background Information / SECTION 2: RESULTS FOR GEOGRAPHIC AREAS WITHIN THE BOROUGH / Evaluation of Current Borough Services / Use of Borough Facilities / Life in Matanuska-Susitna Borough Neighborhoods / Local Government: Access, Policies and Practices / Higher Education / Respondent Background Information / APPENDIX A: Questionnair

Drugs and Crime in Anchorage, Alaska: A Note

Also published in Alaska Justice Forum 22(1): 7 (Spring 2005).This research note examines the relationship between drug use and offense charged through data collected in 2003 from 259 recent arrestees in Anchorage, Alaska using the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) protocol. The analysis is restricted to examining those ADAM participants who tested positive for marijuana and cocaine use.Research note supported in part by Grant No. 2002-BJ-CX-K018 from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Community Survey, 2007: A Sourcebook of Community Attitudes

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Community Survey (Mat-Su Survey) was a cooperative effort on the part of Mat-Su College, the University of Alaska-Anchorage (UAA) and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough which asked Mat-Su Borough residents to evaluate the quality of Borough services, provide opinions about Borough decision-making, and sum up their perceptions about a range of issues relevant to the present and future of the Mat-Su community. The survey was distributed to 2,478 residents of the Mat-Su Borough in the spring of 2007; a total of 1,388 surveys were returned, for a response rate of 56.1%. The Sourcebook provides results in five major areas: (1) evaluation of current borough services; (2) use of borough facilities; (3) life in Mat-Su neighborhoods; (4) local government access, policies, and practices; and (5) respondent background information.Matanuska Susitna BoroughIntroduction / Executive Summary / SECTION 1: DETAILED BOROUGH-WIDE RESULTS / Evaluation of Current Borough Services / Use of Borough Facilities / Life in Matanuska-Susitna Borough Neighborhoods / Local Government: Access, Policies and Practices / Respondent Background Information / SECTION 2: RESULTS FOR GEOGRAPHIC AREAS WITHIN THE BOROUGH / Evaluation of Current Borough Services / Use of Borough Facilities / Life in Matanuska-Susitna Borough Neighborhoods / Local Government: Access, Policies and Practices / APPENDIX A: Questionnair

Police Alcohol-Related Services Study (PASS), Phase II: A Description of the Beliefs, Perceptions and Attitudes of Anchorage Police Department Employees

The principal aim of the Police Alcohol-related Services Study (PASS) was to expand knowledge about the fiscal, organizational, and cultural impact of citizen alcohol use on the Anchorage Police Department (APD). Phase II of the study employed a voluntary, self-administered questionnaire provided to all members of the APD regardless of rank, sworn status, or operational division. The questionnaire was designed to explore respondents' perceptions of their alcohol-related workload; perceptions of community problems; perceived links between alcohol use and selected social problems; attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs about the policing of alcohol-related incidents and the people involved with them; and personal and vicarious experience with alcohol-related incidents. The report describes survey response through comparison of APD employee responses across divisions within the department: operations vs. administration, patrol vs. non-patrol, and sworn vs. non-sworn.Part I. Project Overview & Summary of Findings / Part II. Alcohol-Related Workload: APD Employee Perspectives / Appendice

Sexual Assault Study: Overview

Poster originally presented to the Anchorage Police Department and the 2004 Alaska Summit on Violence Against Women.Anchorage Community Indicators is a public education project of the Justice Center aimed at providing information about various aspects of the Anchorage municipality through maps and tables. This issue introduces Series 2, "Sexual Assault Study," which describes the spatial patterning and geographical concentration of sexual assaults reported to the Anchorage Police Department in 2000–2001.This research was supported by Grant No. 2000-RH-CX-K039 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and by a UAA Faculty Development Grant to the first author.Rates of Forcible Rape in U.S., Alaska, and Anchorage, 1982–2001 / Demographic Characteristics of Suspects / Incident Locations (map) / Incident Locations for Native Victims (map) / Incident Locations for White Victims (map) / Victim-Suspect Relationship / Drug and Alcohol Use by Victim and Suspect / Demographic Characteristics of Victims (race; age) / Assault Locations / Incident Locations and Bar Locations (map) / Day of Assault / Hours Between Assault and Reporting To Polic

Anchorage Community Indicators: Public Use Data Files

The four SPSS datasets described and included here include: ACSPUBFILE.SAV: The data collected in the course of the 2005 Anchorage Community Survey in SPSS format. / ACSCT.SAV: a merged dataset consisting of composite measures extracted from the 2005 Anchorage Community Survey, 2000 U.S. Census, and Anchorage Police Department Dispatches 2003–2005. / BLOCKGROUPMEASURES.SAV: A description of the 214 census block groups within the city of Anchorage, including composite measures derived from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (documented in ACI Technical Report Initial Measures derived from Census) and dispatch measures derived from APD dispatch data files (documented in Anchorage Police Department Dispatch Data). / CTRACTMEASURES.SAV: A census tract level of aggregation of the 214 census blocks into the 55 census tracts that compose the city of Anchorage. Also includes composite measures derived from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (documented in ACI Technical Report Initial Measures derived from Census) and dispatch measures derived from APD dispatch data files (documented in Anchorage Police Department Dispatch Data).The Anchorage Community Survey is a biannual study conducted by the Justice Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage as a principal component of the Community Indicators Project at UAA. As the premier source of data on Anchorage Community Indicators, the ACS also provides insight into the communities of Anchorage, Girdwood and Eagle River. This document explains the various SPSS datasets, collection methods, and variables of the 2005 Anchorage Community Survey (https://scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/11122/3729).[Introduction] / 2005 Anchorage Community Survey / 2000 U.S. Census Extracts / Appendices — Variables / 1: ACSPubFile.sav / 2: ACSCT.sav / 3: CTractMeasures.sav / 4: BlockGroupMeasures.sa

ADAM-Anchorage Data: Are They Representative?

This paper presents the results of a study designed to assess the representativeness of realized samples of recent arrestees selected for the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program in Anchorage, Alaska. Because one of the most important goals of the ADAM program is to produce scientific information on the prevalence of alcohol and drug use behaviors among arrestees that is generalizable to an entire local arrestee population, establishing the representativeness of realized samples (or isolating inherent biases) is an essential first step to meaningful use of these data to address locally defined problems. In order to determine the reasonableness of inferences grounded in realized samples of ADAM respondents, an analysis was done comparing various characteristics between each stage of the sample selection process including the census of eligible arrestee population, the designed ADAM arrestee sample, arrestees available for interview, arrestees actually interviewed (“realized” sample), and arrestees that provided urine sample (“realized” sample). If the realized samples are similar to the census we can have a greater degree of confidence in our capacity to describe the population of Anchorage arrestees using ADAM data. Also, if it happens that departures are detected between realized samples and the arrestee census we are better positioned to condition the inferences made by integrating these discerned biases into our conclusions.Abstract / The ADAM-Anchorage Program / ADAM Sample Attrition / Representativeness of the Realized Male Arrestee Samples / Representativeness of the Realized Female Samples / Conclusions / Appendix [supplementary tables and figure

The Police Alcohol-Related Services Study (PASS): A Study of the Intersection of Public Alcohol Use and Routine Police Patrol

The principal aim of the Police Alcohol-related Services Study (PASS) was to expand knowledge about the fiscal, organizational, and cultural impact of citizen alcohol use on the Anchorage Police Department (APD). This report presents results from Phase I of the study, which examines the impact of citizen alcohol use as it relates directly to police patrol with a primary focus on issues of time-task allocations among Anchorage patrol officers. Data was collected through direct field observations of routine patrol operations of Anchorage police officers by professionally trained and certified interviewers.Acknowledgements / Chapter One: Study Overview / Chapter Two: Characteristics of P.A.S.S. Sample / Chapter Three: Patrol Work in Anchorage: A Brief Description of Time-Task Allotment / Chapter Four: Alcohol Involvement in Patrol Work: Number of Discrete Events / Chapter Five: Alcohol Involvement in Patrol Work: Time Spent on Alcohol-related Activities / Chapter Six: Estimating the Costs of Public Alcohol Use Incurred by the Anchorage Police Departmen

Collective Efficacy and Firearms Violence in Anchorage, Alaska: Preliminary Findings

Paper also presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the Western Society of Criminology, Scottsdale, Arizona.This paper seeks to advance the discussion of the utility of collective efficacy, as captured by Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls, in understanding community levels of crime by exploring the relation between community structure, collective efficacy, and in this case firearms violence, in Anchorage, Alaska. The specific aims of this paper are to report the results of a test of the collective efficacy thesis, modeled loosely after the test presented in the 1997 Science paper by Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls, as an explanation of neighborhood rates of firearms violence in Anchorage.Measures Replication and Data / Collective Efficacy and Violence in Anchorage / Discussion and Conclusions / References / Table