Efficiency of Police Forces in Central America

• In Event: Police Efficiency: Domestic and International Applications

Abstract

The police force is the institution at the forefront of combating and reducing crime and violence. In a country with limited resources to fight the high and increasing levels of violent crimes, particularly in recent years, it is important to try to understand better how the police is performing in addressing the insecurity problems. Using data envelopment analysis, this study sought to shed light on the efficiency of the national police force in Honduras.

The results reveal that eight out of the 18 police stations have scores that are considered efficient. The remaining 10 police stations are considered inefficient. More importantly, the average efficiency scores for the PNH as a whole is 86%, which is higher than in other studies conducted in the region. The findings suggest that the PNH in Honduras are using their human, financial and physical resources inefficiently and significant reductions in inputs are needed in order to achieve the same output in a more efficient manner.

The study also found that the performance of the police force in Honduras is affected negatively by contextual factors such as inequality, the size of the youth population, poverty rates, and the existing levels of violence, in particular, homicide.

Author

• Erik Alda, American University