This study explores whether and to what degree local government elections disrupt the collection and, ultimately, the structure of local government revenues. Using panel data from all Macedonian municipalities from 2008 to 2020, we test the presence of incumbents’ opportunistic fiscal policies related to local elections. The two main policy variables considered in the study are elections and mayoral political alignment with the Prime Minister’s ruling coalition. The results indicate that revenues from taxes, the general fund, and own sources decline during an election year, but revenues from donations (mainly from the central government) increase. Revenues from own sources increase in the post-election year. While earmarked revenues are unaffected during an election year, they increase post-election. This study provides evidence that local elections play a significant role in implementing local revenue policies.

Efficiency measurement of customs offices is a nascent but growing area of research interest. In this study we examined whether the Mexican government's policies enacted during the 2011-2017 period improved the efficiency of the customs system. Our empirical approach employed a standard metafrontier model to assess the efficiency of all customs offices in Mexico. We examined changes in the best-practice performance, productivity, and technology leadership for three groups of customs offices (border, interior, and maritime) by conducting static and temporal analyses. The static analysis showed that border customs had the most within-group variations. The internal customs group exhibited constant efficiency, whereas the maritime customs group was nearest to the metafrontier. The temporal analysis indicated that border customs offices were the most productive group during the period; however, this group was distant from the metafrontier. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on customs efficiency measurement.

Police agencies face significant staffing shortages due to increased resignations and retirements following the George Floyd protests and the COVID-19 pandemic. A method called Inverse Data Envelopment Analysis (InvDEA) can be used to estimate how policing inputs, such as officers, staff, and vehicles, can be reallocated to increase policing outputs, such as arresting offenders, clearing crimes, or responding to emergencies. Using a simulation of a police agency with 150 sectors, the author showed that it was possible to reallocate officers and civilians from inefficient to efficient sectors to significantly improve performance without any additional inputs.

This study treats operating budget surpluses as an absorption problem rather than a strategic fiscal policy. Applying a system generalized method of moments (GMM) model on panel data from 80 Macedonian municipalities for the period 2006-2020, the study examines the relation of decentralization and vertical fiscal imbalance with these systematic operating surpluses. The findings from the study are mixed. The findings from this study are relevant to all developing countries undergoing fiscal decentralization reforms, especially post-socialist countries. This study fills a void in the literature examining non-strategic surpluses in recently decentralized local governments.

Police agencies are amid a significant staffing shortage. Scholars and police managers warn about the effects of understaffing on public safety and security. Studies have examined the impacts of events like the Floyd protests had on police resignations. This study uses a linear programming method, Inverse data envelopment analysis (InvDEA), to estimate the efficient allocation of police resources using a simulated agency with 150 sectors. The first decision-making scenario simulated the challenge many agencies currently face with staffing shortages. Reallocating officers and civilians from inefficient to efficient units improved performance by 4.7% without additional officers. Results of the second and third decision-making scenarios indicate a need to reallocate resources by 23% and 19%, respectively. These findings contribute to the scarce literature on police staff allocation. In addition, the methodology employed in this study is helpful for police managers to make accurate operational decisions when combined with changes to the efficiency frontier that reflect the environment in which they operate.

Research on body-worn cameras (BWCs) has burgeoned in recent years. However, much of this research has not examined the effects of this technology on police performance. In this study, we created a novel dataset on police organizational inputs and outputs and assessed the effects that BWCs have on police efficiency. Using a multiple-stage approach, in the first stage, we estimated the efficiency of local police agencies using a robust order-m efficiency model. In the second stage, we assessed the effects of BWCs using a range of matching estimators and an instrumental variable (IV) model. The first-stage results show that police agencies could improve their efficiency by 2% (from a mean efficiency score of 0.98 to 1). The second-stage matching and IV estimates suggest BWC effects on efficiency range between four and six percentage points in our preferred model. The introduction of this significant technological advance has brought many benefits to police agencies. Our findings show that BWCs can help improve police efficiency, yielding significant cost savings to law enforcement.

We examine the cost efficiency of local police agencies in the US for 2016. We employ a multi-output translog stochastic frontier model and show that reductions in inefficiency would yield significant budgetary savings and improved performance in service delivery.

Extant literature has identified that victims’ decisions to cooperate with police is often related to how they perceive justice, the legal system, and law enforcement. While this line of inquiry has been extensively conducted in the context of developed world, fewer studies have examined this nexus within the context of developing countries. To fill this research gap, the current study brings into focus seven Caribbean countries surveyed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Using logistic regression models, the research aims to examine how individuals’ beliefs about justice and the criminal justice system affect their crime reporting behaviour. In particular, we evaluate the roles of four factors (procedural justice, performance, perceived justice, and legal cynicism) on the reporting of violent and property crimes. Our results revealed victims of violent crime were more likely to report these crimes to the police when they believe the police are effective. In addition, perceived justice was positively associated with reporting of violent and property crimes in the Caribbean countries. On the contrary, individuals who believed high levels of legal cynicism were less likely to report violent crimes. Implications for future research and policies relevant to the research context as well as to developing countries are also discussed.

Research suggests that external factors influence municipal spending efficiency. We tested this assumption using a conditional order-m efficiency model on an eight-year panel of 79 Macedonian municipalities. The findings suggest that factors outside the control of municipal managers affect efficiency differently. Understanding how each factor influences municipal efficiency can help municipal governments improve their overall performance.

PurposeThe study examined the effects of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on civilian complaints against police using a non-representative national sample of police organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical approach employed a staggered difference in differences design (DiD) that exploited the variation in the timing of adoption of BWCs by police agencies from 2007 to 2016. The study considered two scenarios: (1) a model without any explanatory variables; and (2) a model with explanatory variables. Furthermore, in each model the author two different comparison groups: (1) agencies that never adopted this technology and (2) agencies that adopted BWCs at a later time.FindingsThe model without explanatory variables suggest strong and statistically significant reductions in complaints. The simple average estimates show reductions in civilian complaints between 13% and 14%, depending on the model. This is the equivalent of an average reduction of about 30 civilian complaints per capita. The dynamic effects suggested that the length of exposure to BWCs matters in reducing civilian complaints, showing a significant reduction of 47% in civilian complaints. The models with explanatory variables also show slightly lower declines in civilian complaints.Originality/valueThe surge in the adoption of BWCs by police agencies sparked a parallel surge of studies examining their effectiveness on various outcomes. Most research to date has use experimental designs on a single police agency or a small group of agencies. Few studies have employed a large sample of agencies or periods longer than six to 12 months. Evidence on the effects of BWCs on a range of outcomes from larger multi-agency studies and longer periods of analysis will support the already robust specialized literature and inform policymakers about the effectiveness of this technology over time.

Research shows that procedural justice is associated with higher perceptions of police legitimacy. Most research to date has been conducted in the context of advanced economies and the empirical evidence from developing countries is scarce. Carabineros de Chile was one of the most trusted public institutions in Chile. It was seen as a strong and exemplary institution ready and willing to serve citizens and provide safety and security while treating citizens with respect. A series of corruption scandals and human rights violations against street demonstrators in 2018 cast doubt on their legitimacy as an institution. Using a survey conducted in Santiago de Chile collected in the aftermath of some of the worst social upheaval in recent history, we examine the determinants of police legitimacy in the context of a developing country. Our findings suggest that procedural justice is associated with higher perceptions of police legitimacy. Although this was an expected finding, our results also show that some variables at the individual-level did not behave as would be hypothesized. If anything, our results serve as an example of the elusiveness of trust and legitimacy in the global south and underscore the importance of the local context in examining these issues.

Motivation During the 2010s Honduras reported some of the highest rates of violent urban crime anywhere in the world. Before the 2010s, the government tried to control crime using heavy policing and sentencing (la mano dura), but with little apparent effect on alarming and rising rates of urban crime. This led to a switch to working with communities to make urban spaces safer, to change attitudes among young people vulnerable to perpetrating and suffering violent crime, and to encouraging secondary school students to remain in school. Purpose The article assesses the success of the 2013-2019 pilot, Ciudades Seguras (Safe Cities), in three large municipalities. The project aimed at integrating crime prevention, social investment and municipal capacity building across the national and subnational administrations. Approaches and methods The project was designed with no regard to impact evaluation, without an adequate baseline, without controls. Hence, we develop a simple ex-post cost-benefit analysis (CBA) that updates an ex-ante CBA. Our approach has two advantages: (1) it provides rigorous estimates of the project's impacts from assessing counterfactuals, data, and plausible individual and social benefits; and (2) it helps assess the quality of the original ex-ante CBA estimates. Findings Reliable data on project impact is incomplete. Two findings, however, are striking. In the three cities, homicides fell dramatically from more than 850 per 100,000 to below 500, against a projection of rates rising to 900 per 100,000. The other is that, contrary to programme plans, school dropout rates actually increased. The value of fewer murders outweighed disappointments on school retention. The benefit-cost ratio is estimated to be 1.75, higher than the ex-ante estimate of the project. The value of the pilot remains unchanged when we include calculations from incomplete and/or unreliable data on sexual violence, injuries, thefts, and school dropout. Policy Implications Two conclusions can be drawn from this article. First, that Ciudades Seguras achieved great success in reducing murder rates, showing how working with communities to make cities safer and changing attitudes and expectations can work, when heavier policing does not. Second, that it is possible to assess the economic benefits derived from such programmes, even when adequate measures for subsequent evaluation were not included in the design of the pilot.

ABSTRACT This study addresses a void in the literature on public attitudes toward police in Latin America. It integrates three theoretical models of the determinants of citizen satisfaction with police work in Chile: demographic, quality of life in the neighborhood, and experiential. The study tested the integrated model using a novel random sample of 996 individuals living in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago. The results underscore the importance of legitimacy centered on fair treatment, respect for human rights, and the perception that the police represent society. The findings are also significant for the Chilean institutional political process and for the Latin American police reform debate.

This study examines the efficiency of local jails in the United States in 2016 using Data Envelopment Analysis with metafrontiers. Metafrontiers envelop jails that have a similar production technology and yield more accurate efficiency estimates. Using an input-oriented model with variable returns to scale, the results suggest that, on average, jails could reduce or reallocate their inputs by 37% given their output level. For managers, the findings provide evidence that jail managers can improve efficiency by carefully assessing how they allocate and use their resources. For policy makers, the results indicate that opportunities exist for implementing cost-saving approaches to maximize taxpayer dollars.

Debates have been ongoing for decades about the efficiency of municipal services in centralized or decentralized systems. the fundamental argument for decentralization is that it shifts decisionmaking authority to local governments which are closer to citizens’ needs and preferences and thus are better to know what is wanted. This study contributes to the growing literature on measuring local government efficiency by using data from 79 Macedonian municipalities from 2008 to 2015 and assessing whether decentralization results in greater efficiency. the results indicate that more decentralized municipalities are, on average, more efficient than less decentralized ones. There was, however, a significant disparity in performance throughout the decentralization period, with small municipalities often under-performing relative to larger ones. These results indicate that decentralization has limited effects on the efficiency of municipal spending, and does not reduce disparities across municipalities. the evidence suggests that many of the inequalities could be alleviated by implementing equalization programs as a substantial part of a regional development strategy.

Research on police organizations argues that the external environment in which they operate have a negative effect on their performance. We tested these assumptions on a sample of 1,634 municipal police forces in Mexico, We used a conditional order-m model to examine how the environment in which police operate affects their performance. Our results indicate that not all socioeconomic, demographic and institutional factors have a negative influence on police performance.

We do not know the extent to which billions of dollars in aid can save lives or prevent forced displacement globally. We propose the adaption of data envelopment analysis (DEA), a well-known nonparametric organizational performance method, to fill this critical gap in humanitarian assistance. Applying this new technique to 106 countries receiving aid between 2010 and 2016, we show that countries could improve their aid efficiency by an average of between 20 percent and 50 percent with respect to best performers. This tailored methodology, Humanitarian DEA, can be applied to monitor the efficiency of aid nationally and globally every year.

This study examines the efficiency of local jails for the year 2016. It employs a well-known non-parametric methodology (DEA) with metafrontiers. Metafrontiers envelop separate groups that have similar production technology and therefore allows for more accurate efficiency estimates. Using an input-oriented model with variable returns to scale, the results of this study suggest that, on average, jails could reduce or reallocate their inputs by 37% given their output level. Also, there are differences in efficiency between groups that operate on different production technologies. The group of small jails appears to operate more efficiently than the groups of large and mega-large jails. From a managerial perspective, this study presents evidence that jail managers need to assess more carefully how they allocate human and financial resources to try to improve operational efficiency. From a policy perspective, the results indicate that there is room for cost-saving approaches to maximize taxpayer dollars.

Criminal courts are an essential component of the criminal justice system. How people perceive courts determines, in part, their compliance with court decisions. When courts are perceived as being just, fair and trustworthy, citizens are more likely to respect court rulings. However, few people have direct experience with the criminal courts, but many do with the police. This paper explores whether citizens' perception of police fairness affects their perception of criminal courts as being fair and examines the influences of a variety of individual and community factors upon this relationship. We tested a conceptual model with three clusters of predictive variables (individual, community, and national levels) based on data from the Caribbean. The findings indicate that perceived fairness of courts is driven primarily by perceived fairness of the police as well as by involvement in one's community and an individual's crime victimization. Policy implications of these findings are explored.