IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v23y2005i4p465-482.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Measurement Of Police Force Efficiency: An Assessment Of U.K. Home Office Policy

Author

Listed:
  • LEIGH M. DRAKE
  • RICHARD SIMPER

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, governments around the world have implemented strategies and targets to ensure that public services are efficient in the management of resources. In the United Kingdom this common agenda has led to the recent Police Reform Act 2002 in which consideration was given to how police forces can show value for money based on government strategic policy targets. This article presents a critique of the performance radar technique proposed by the Home Office in the United Kingdom as a new public policy objective to assess police force performance. Using an alternative and innovative nonparametric modeling strategy, the article shows that the use of the former approach can produce biased performance rankings and also demonstrate that environmental factors can have a substantial impact on the apparent efficiency of individual police forces. Finally, the results suggest that survey data (as used by the Home Office) should not be used as a basis to assess police performance. (JEL C14, L3, M2)

Suggested Citation

  • Leigh M. Drake & Richard Simper, 2005. "The Measurement Of Police Force Efficiency: An Assessment Of U.K. Home Office Policy," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(4), pages 465-482, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:23:y:2005:i:4:p:465-482
    DOI: 10.1093/cep/byi035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/cep/byi035
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1093/cep/byi035?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Darrough, M N & Heineke, J M, 1979. "Law Enforcement Agencies as Multi-Product Firms: An Econometric Investigation of Production Costs," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 34(2), pages 176-195.
    2. Gillen, David & Lall, Ashish, 1997. "Developing measures of airport productivity and performance: an application of data envelopment analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 261-273, December.
    3. Linna, Miika & Nordblad, Anne & Koivu, Matti, 2003. "Technical and cost efficiency of oral health care provision in Finnish health centres," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 343-353, January.
    4. Harold Fried & Shelton Schmidt & Suthathip Yaisawarng, 1999. "Incorporating the Operating Environment Into a Nonparametric Measure of Technical Efficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 249-267, November.
    5. Chilingerian, Jon A., 1995. "Evaluating physician efficiency in hospitals: A multivariate analysis of best practices," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 548-574, February.
    6. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    7. Roger Carrington & Nara Puthucheary & Deirdre Rose & Suthathip Yaisawarng, 1997. "Performance Measurement in Government Service Provision: The Case of Police Services in New South Wales," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 415-430, November.
    8. Thanassoulis, Emmanuel, 1995. "Assessing police forces in England and Wales using data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 641-657, December.
    9. Sun, Shinn, 2002. "Measuring the relative efficiency of police precincts using data envelopment analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 51-71, March.
    10. Leigh Drake & Richard Simper, 2001. "The Economic Evaluation of Policing Activity: An Application of a Hybrid Methodology," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 173-192, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rogge, Nicky & Simper, Richard & Verschelde, Marijn & Hall, Maximilian, 2015. "An analysis of managerialism and performance in English and Welsh male prisons," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(1), pages 224-235.
    2. Isabel-María García-Sánchez & Luis Rodríguez-Domínguez & Javier Parra-Domínguez, 2013. "Yearly evolution of police efficiency in Spain and explanatory factors," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 21(1), pages 31-62, January.
    3. David Mason & Carola Hillenbrand & Kevin Money, 2014. "Are Informed Citizens More Trusting? Transparency of Performance Data and Trust Towards a British Police Force," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 321-341, June.
    4. Hall, Maximilian J.B. & Liu, Wenbin B. & Simper, Richard & Zhou, Zhongbao, 2013. "The economic efficiency of rehabilitative management in young offender institutions in England and Wales," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 38-49.
    5. Surender Kumar & Sudesh Kumar, 2015. "Does modernization improve performance: evidence from Indian police," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 57-77, February.
    6. Wen-Jen Tsay & Cliff J. Huang & Tsu-Tan Fu & I-Lin Ho, 2009. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Censored Stochastic Frontier Models: An Application to the Three-Stage DEA Method," IEAS Working Paper : academic research 09-A003, Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
    7. Mallikarjun, Sreekanth & Lewis, Herbert F. & Sexton, Thomas R., 2014. "Operational performance of U.S. public rail transit and implications for public policy," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 74-88.
    8. Verschelde, Marijn & Rogge, Nicky, 2012. "An environment-adjusted evaluation of citizen satisfaction with local police effectiveness: Evidence from a conditional Data Envelopment Analysis approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(1), pages 214-225.
    9. Gorman, Michael F. & Ruggiero, John, 2008. "Evaluating US state police performance using data envelopment analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 1031-1037, June.
    10. Richard SIMPER & Thomas WEYMAN‐JONES, 2008. "Evaluating Gains From Mergers In A Non‐Parametric Public Good Model Of Police Services," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(1), pages 3-33, March.
    11. Hall, Maximilian J.B. & Kenjegalieva, Karligash A. & Simper, Richard, 2011. "An alternative to the weighted score card approach to measuring performance: An analysis of English and Welsh probation boards," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 184-193, December.
    12. Thyago Celso Cavalcante Nepomuceno & Katarina Tatiana Marques Santiago & Cinzia Daraio & Ana Paula Cabral Seixas Costa, 2022. "Exogenous crimes and the assessment of public safety efficiency and effectiveness," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 316(2), pages 1349-1382, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Tai-Hsi & Chen, Ming-Shiun & Yeh, Jin-Yii, 2010. "Measuring the performance of police forces in Taiwan using data envelopment analysis," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 246-254, August.
    2. Isabel-María García-Sánchez & Luis Rodríguez-Domínguez & Javier Parra-Domínguez, 2013. "Yearly evolution of police efficiency in Spain and explanatory factors," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 21(1), pages 31-62, January.
    3. Benito, Bernardino & Martínez-Córdoba, Pedro-José & Guillamón, María-Dolores, 2021. "Measurement and determinants of efficiency in the municipal police service," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Drake, Leigh & Hall, Maximilian J.B. & Simper, Richard, 2006. "The impact of macroeconomic and regulatory factors on bank efficiency: A non-parametric analysis of Hong Kong's banking system," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1443-1466, May.
    5. Simar, Leopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2007. "Estimation and inference in two-stage, semi-parametric models of production processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 31-64, January.
    6. Javier Parra Domínguez & Isabel María García Sánchez & Luis Rodríguez Domínguez, 2015. "Relationship between police efficiency and crime rate: a worldwide approach," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 203-223, February.
    7. Surender Kumar & Sudesh Kumar, 2015. "Does modernization improve performance: evidence from Indian police," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 57-77, February.
    8. Thyago Celso Cavalcante Nepomuceno & Katarina Tatiana Marques Santiago & Cinzia Daraio & Ana Paula Cabral Seixas Costa, 2022. "Exogenous crimes and the assessment of public safety efficiency and effectiveness," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 316(2), pages 1349-1382, September.
    9. Isabel García-Sánchez & Luis Rodríguez-Domínguez & Javier Parra Domínguez, 2013. "Evaluation of the efficacy and effectiveness of the Spanish security forces," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 57-75, August.
    10. Drake, Leigh & Simper, R., 2003. "The measurement of English and Welsh police force efficiency: A comparison of distance function models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(1), pages 165-186, May.
    11. Gorman, Michael F. & Ruggiero, John, 2008. "Evaluating US state police performance using data envelopment analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 1031-1037, June.
    12. Drake, Leigh M. & Simper, Richard, 2003. "An evaluation in the choice of inputs and outputs in the efficiency measurement of police forces," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 701-710, December.
    13. Isabel-María García-Sánchez, 2007. "Evaluating the effectiveness of the Spanish police force through data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 43-57, February.
    14. Hall, Maximilian J.B. & Kenjegalieva, Karligash A. & Simper, Richard, 2011. "An alternative to the weighted score card approach to measuring performance: An analysis of English and Welsh probation boards," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 184-193, December.
    15. Drake, Leigh M. & Simper, Richard, 2005. "Police Efficiency in Offences Cleared: An Analysis of English "Basic Command Units"," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 186-208, June.
    16. E G Gomes & M P E Lins, 2008. "Modelling undesirable outputs with zero sum gains data envelopment analysis models," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(5), pages 616-623, May.
    17. Yu, Ming-Miin, 2010. "Assessment of airport performance using the SBM-NDEA model," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 440-452, December.
    18. Richard SIMPER & Thomas WEYMAN‐JONES, 2008. "Evaluating Gains From Mergers In A Non‐Parametric Public Good Model Of Police Services," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(1), pages 3-33, March.
    19. Syed Hassan RAZA* & Bilal MEHMOOD**, 2014. "EFFICIENCY DIFFERENCES AMONG LAW ENFORCING UNITS IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN: Application of Data Envelopment Analysis," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 24(1), pages 17-37.
    20. Cordero Ferrera, Jose Manuel & Alonso Morán, Edurne & Nuño Solís, Roberto & Orueta, Juan F. & Souto Arce, Regina, 2013. "Efficiency assessment of primary care providers: A conditional nonparametric approach," MPRA Paper 51926, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • L3 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise
    • M2 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:23:y:2005:i:4:p:465-482. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.