Relative efficiency of police directorates in Slovenia: A non-parametric analysis

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to apply a non-parametric methodology for measuring public police performance in Slovenia at the regional level (for (all) eleven Police Directorates) in 2010. Design/Methods/Approach: The paper considers how previous studies have modelled the role of policing through specification of inputs and output. In particular, the multiple-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique is presented and then applied to measure the relative efficiency of police-work-related data for eleven police directorates (PDs) in 2010. The data obtained from the police databases is analyzed through the Frontier Analyst 4.0 and SPSS 19.0 statistical package software. Findings: The results show that the technical efficiency of the police varies significantly across the police directorates even when we allow for environmental factors and control for non-discretionary inputs. Most police directorates in Slovenia could attain a higher output if they were fully efficient. Indeed, all of the inefficient police directorates can learn how to improve their performance from the efficient ones (i.e. the Maribor PD and the Novo mesto PD) by observing how they are processing inputs and outputs. Originality/Value: The empirical results of the paper are important indicators of the relative efficiency (or inefficiency) of police directorates that can serve as a guide to the General Police Directorate when further investigating how to enhance performance efficiency.