Grand Rapids makes the top ten list of cities with the best return on investment on police spending. That comes from a new report by Personal finance website, WalletHub. WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Cities with the Best and Worst Return as taxpayer dollars used for police protection come under increased scrutiny.
A new analysis from WalletHub ranks Grand Rapids, Michigan number 8 on the list with the best return on investment on police spending, spending 297-dollars per capita.
“We based this ROI on law enforcement spending based on both crime rates, and per capita expenses on police forces, and then we also ran a regression that takes into account the poverty rate , unemployment rate and the median household income of Grand Rapids as well.”
That’s Jill Gonzalez, analyst with WalletHub; she says with those five factors combined, that’s how Grand Rapids ranked 8th out of the 104 largest U.S. cities they looked at; She says they utilized census and FBI figures in their study.
“So, let’s look at Grand Rapids, when we’re talking about a poverty rate, it’s 30 % higher than average, when we’re looking at unemployment it’s 9%, we know the nation’s is 5% , so four points over there and median is about 38-thousand dollars a year that’s a little less than average. So taking into account those economic factors, that’s when you can see that Grand Rapids is using it’s taxpayer’s money effectively, especially when it comes to the police force.”
The study, says Gonzalez, was prompted in part by news of high profile shootings of people of color and increased scrutiny over the use of taxpayer dollars on police spending.
Akron, Ohio had the best Return on investment, while the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. had the worst.
