Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) Research Partnership in Detroit, Michigan, 1999-2003 (ICPSR 20353)

Principal Investigator(s): Bynum, Timothy S., Michigan State University. School of Criminal Justice

Summary: The Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI), in Detroit, Michigan, involved a team of federal, state, and local agencies that worked together to systematically address gun violence in that city. The purpose of the SACSI project was to examine the dynamics of gun violence and the manner in which such cases are processed within the criminal justice system, and to evaluate two SACSI gun violence interventions in Detroit's Eighth Precinct. The first intervention, ... (more info)

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Bynum, Timothy S. STRATEGIC APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY SAFETY INITIATIVE (SACSI) RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN, 1999-2003. ICPSR20353-v1. East Lansing, MI: Timothy S. Bynum, Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice [producer], 2007. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-12-07. doi:10.3886/ICPSR20353.v1

Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20353.v1

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This survey was funded by:

• United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2001-IJ-CX-K006)

Summary:   The Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI), in Detroit, Michigan, involved a team of federal, state, and local agencies that worked together to systematically address gun violence in that city. The purpose of the SACSI project was to examine the dynamics of gun violence and the manner in which such cases are processed within the criminal justice system, and to evaluate two SACSI gun violence interventions in Detroit's Eighth Precinct. The first intervention, "Operation 8-Ball," was a warrant sweep aimed at gun-involved offenders with outstanding warrants, who were residing in the Eighth Precinct. Part 1, SACSI Monthly Gun Robberies Data, contains the monthly totals for stranger gun robberies in three Detroit precincts, collected to measure the impact of the "Operation 8-Ball" intensive warrant enforcement program conducted in late September 2001. Part 1, contains six variables. The second strategy for addressing gun violence adopted by the working group was a gun-involved parolee supervision component entitled the Detroit SACSI Parolee Initiative. Part 2, SACSI Monthly Contact for Parolees Data, contains the monthly totals for a variety of parole contacts, collected to measure the intensity of a supervision program implemented for gun offenders, which commenced in July 2002. Part 2 also contains levels of parole violations in an intensive parole group in the Eighth Precinct of Detroit. Part 2, contains 16 variables.

Subject Terms:   crime prevention, firearms, gun use, intervention, law enforcement, public safety, violence, violent crime, weapons offenses

Smallest Geographic Unit:   police precinct

Geographic Coverage:   Detroit, Michigan, United States

Time Period:  

• 1999--2003

Date of Collection:  

• 2003--2005

Unit of Observation:   For Part 1, the unit of analysis is the month by year observed at 60 time points for each of three precincts. For Part 2, the unit of analysis is the month/year.

Universe:   Part 1: All stranger gun robberies in the Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Precincts in western Detroit, Michigan, from January 1999 to December 2003. Part 2: Parolees from an intensive parole group in the Eighth Precinct of Detroit and a matched control group of parolees from a larger Detroit catchment from January 2002 to December 2003.

Data Types:   administrative records data, and aggregate data

Study Purpose:   The Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) in Detroit, Michigan, involved a team of federal, state, and local agencies that worked together to systematically address gun violence in that city. The purpose of the SACSI project was to examine the dynamics of gun violence and the manner in which such cases are processed within the criminal justice system, and to evaluate two SACSI gun violence interventions in Detroit's Eighth Precinct.

Study Design:  

A task force was created to work together with the research team in a collaborative process in the problem analysis, design, and implementation of interventions. While the research partner was responsible for conducting the data collection and problem analysis, this work was to be informed and guided by the task force. Data collection, which was facilitated by the FBI liaison to the SACSI working group, involved active collaboration among the Detroit Police Department, Wayne County Community Justice, the Michigan Department of Corrections, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The research team focused their analysis and evaluation on two Strategic Approach to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) gun violence interventions in Detroit's Eighth Precinct.

The first intervention, "Operation 8-Ball," was a warrant sweep aimed at gun-involved offenders with outstanding warrants residing in the Eighth Precinct. Part 1, SACSI Monthly Gun Robberies Data, contains the monthly totals for stranger gun robberies in three Detroit precincts, collected to measure the impact of the "Operation 8-Ball" intensive warrant enforcement program conducted in late September 2001. One precinct represented the intervention precinct and two control precincts' monthly robbery totals were used for comparisons. A total of 60 monthly observations were collected. Electronic data aggregation of official crime reports were used to obtain the monthly counts.

The second strategy for addressing gun violence adopted by the working group was a gun-involved parolee supervision component entitled the Detroit SACSI Parolee Initiative. Part 2, SACSI Monthly Contact for Parolees Data, contains the monthly totals for a variety of parole contacts, collected to measure the intensity of a supervision program implemented for gun offenders, which commenced in July 2002. Part 2 also contains levels of parole violations in an intensive parole group in the Eighth Precinct of Detroit. The parolees were known gun offenders. A matched control group (age, offense, race, and gender) was drawn from the larger Detroit catchment. Parallel data were summarized for match group members. Monthly observations used intensive and match average levels of contact that were recorded in official parole records.

Sample:   For Part 1, the monthly totals for stranger gun robberies in three Detroit precincts were obtained from the Detroit Police Department for a period of five years from 1999 to 2003, resulting in 60 observations. For Part 2, the monthly totals for a variety of parole contacts were obtained from the Michigan Department of Corrections for a period of two years, from 2002 to 2003, resulting in aggregate official parole contact data (by month and year). In Part 2, case load fluctuations yielded variations in the total number of underlying parolees observed and there is not perfect correspondence between the two groups.

Weight:   none

Mode of Data Collection:   record abstracts

Data Source:

For Part 1, data were obtained from official crime reports from the Detroit Police Department from January 1999 to December 2003. Part 2, contains Michigan Department of Corrections official parole contact data from January 2002 to December 2003.

Description of Variables:  

Part 1, SACSI Monthly Gun Robberies Data, contains six variables: year, month, and monthly gun robberies recorded in the Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Precincts. A variable labeled, "Operation 8-ball intervention" identified if the data were collected in the pre- or postwarrant enforcement period.

Part 2, SACSI Monthly Contacts for Parolees Data, contains 16 variables including home contact rate, office contact rate, phone contact rate, collateral contact rate, the substance abuse violation rate, and the total violation ratio for both the SACSI intensive parole group and the matched control group. Other variables capture the total number of SACSI parolees on caseload for the month, as well as the total number of match parolees on caseload for the month. Other variables include the month/year observed and the pre- and postintensive supervision periods.

Response Rates:   Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales:   none

Extent of Processing:  ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

• Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Original ICPSR Release:  2007-12-07

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