Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Since Bollens (1957) first identified special districts as a “dark continent” in political science, the number of non-school special districts in the United States has grown substantially. During the past 50 years, however, political science objections to the fragmentation of metropolitan government have remained largely theoretical.
This study examines one form of non-school special districts-- park districts-- and evaluates their efficiency and effectiveness. The study evaluates park district services compared to similar services provided by consolidated general-purpose municipal governments.
Two competing hypotheses are identified. The first states that parks and recreation departments provide higher levels of efficiency in delivering services than park districts. The second states that park districts provide higher service levels than municipal parks and recreation departments.
Midwestern states were selected for the study because they have the largest number of non-school special districts in the United States and comparable numbers of parks and recreation departments within municipalities and county governments.
Service levels, autonomy, demographic, and administrator profile data for park districts and parks and recreation departments were collected by surveying an equal number of randomly selected park district administrators and randomly selected parks and recreation department administrators in Midwestern states.
Data was analyzed using comparative means testing, bivariate and multivariate linear regression to test the relationships between service levels, and efficiency levels, as identified in the literature. In addition, these quantitative techniques were used to test competing hypotheses identified in other studies, suggesting that staffing and professional training levels are explanations for service and budgetary levels.
The aggregate results of this study show that structure of government is not an important determinant of total recreation program levels. The study also demonstrates that structure of government is not an important determinant of levels of efficiency.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: While there is a rich diffusion history, with a voluminous amount of literature in the social sciences, the diffusion of innovation conceptual framework has only recently been utilized by criminologists. My study aims to tackle a few unanswered questions with regard to this framework in American Policing. Hitherto, most studies in the literature focused on a single innovation and the speed at which it diffuses, only allowing for the identification of departments who are adopters on a single measure of innovativeness. Using cross sectional data my study will identify departments who are hyper adopters, organizations which have implemented multiple innovations. This shifts attention away from the innovation itself and focuses it on the adoption environment which led to the initial implementation. Therefore, this thesis will determine what internal characteristics of police departments are related to the adoption of multiple innovations. Differences in the characteristics of an individual or organizations adoption environment are posited to affect the probability of implementing innovations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Objective. The purpose of this study was to investigate supplier-induced demand for return visits to emergency departments (ED).
Methods. Data from 36,166 ED visits in the 1992 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were examined using multiple logistic regression.
Results. ED return visits were estimated to have occurred over six million times (6.7% of the national probability sample) and were less common among those with private coverage than those with no insurance coverage (OR=0.82, 95% CI=0.74, 0.91). Return visits were more likely than initial visits to be for non-urgent care (OR=2.77, CI=2.50, 3.04), and more likely to receive an ED return appointment (OR=2.98, CI=2.60, 3.40) or return recommendation (OR=1.37, CI=1.24, 1.51). The likelihood of an ED appointment or return recommendation was much higher when there was no alternative care referral for patients being discharged from the ED.
Conclusions. Return ED visits are more likely among patients without insurance and more likely to be for non-urgent care. ED personnel often take actions to induce return visits. These practices may reflect attempts by providers to enhance revenue and/or continuity of care.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The image of the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) upon the eve of Bill Green’s election to the office of mayor of Philadelphia in November 1979 was a tarnished one. Green, many hoped, would be the man to institutionalize the reform so sorely needed by the police department defined by brutality and corruption. Green’s decision to appoint former television journalist Don Fair to the newly created post of public information officer of the PPD in 1980 seemed a step in the right direction – a move to establish a formal mouthpiece for the department and refashion its image. However the controversy surrounding Fair’s appointment merely amplified the deeply-rooted power struggles defining Philadelphia’s political sphere. This paper examines these struggles by exploring the social and cultural implications Fair’s appointment held for the police department and for Philadelphia’s city government.