Indicators for assessing the efficiency of police deployment

Abstract

The Chief Officer is responsible for linking force resources with the policing needs of the area; changing demographic and other factors must be adjusted to. Typically, police resource allocation decisions are made without regard for current and local policing needs. An attempt was made to assess the efficiency of a county police force whose jurisdiction covered urban and rural areas. Population data were obtained from the county council and used to create a data base for micro-computer analysis. The measures of demands were "crime statistics" and total "incident statistics" although it is acknowledged that only 20 percent of all crimes are reported. The population was divided into several categories including social, employment and family status. Conclusions are that: (1) Demands for police services are related not to the total population, but to its socio-economic character; (2) the greater the proportion of low-income groups, the greater the volume of reported crime; (3) a middle class population makes more demands on police resources while a low-income population is more tolerant of crime; and (4) reported crimes or "crime statistics" are better indicators of demand than are total "incident statistics."