What does robbery really cost? An exploratory study into calculating costs and ‘hidden costs’ of policing opioid-related robbery offences

Abstract

Recent attention on the opioid crisis has almost exclusively focused on this issue as a public health concern. Although we do not dispute this approach, we recognize that the opioid crisis in Canada has also generated significant policing costs—particularly in the form of robberies of pharmacies and other businesses. Much of this cost, we argue, remains unknown and/or hidden from public discussion. In this study, we present a more accurate costing of investigating robbery cases, by focusing on a series of opioid-related robberies committed by two individuals in London, Ontario. To calculate the costs, we sought to identify some of the hidden factors not commonly accounted for. Our results indicate that the cost of investigating a robbery case—from initial call to closing of the case—is comparable with previous estimates. However, as opioid-related pharmacies occur as a series of events, total costs are not insignificant. The results of this study have implications for resource allocation policies and highlight the need for a standard police costing metric and a more nuanced understanding of opioid addiction as a policing issue.

A Model to Assess the Feasibility of 911 Call Diversion Programs

“…There is no data on current typical practice in Baltimore, but if data were available, it would be straightforward to incorporate this factor into the model we define. Mark, Whitford, and Huey (2019) argue this method may underrepresent the cost of police actions by excluding other 'hidden costs' such as criminal investigation follow-ups, offender processing, and property control. Hunt, Anderson, and Saunders (2017) also document the significant judicial and legal costs associated with arrests that arise from police calls for service.…”