NCJ Number
144418
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1993) Pages: 203-224
Date Published
1993
Length
22 pages
Annotation
These researchers developed a differential response strategy which would allow police agencies to prioritize their calls for service and delay responding to lower-priority calls even if a response unit is available. This study attempted to find a practical way of choosing the set of cutoff numbers that would minimize the expected total cost of delays for the entire system and to use that method to investigate how the optimal set of numbers would change in response to changes in other variables.
Abstract
Data were provided by the Peoria, Illinois, and Hartford, Connecticut, police departments; the calls were broken down by hour intervals over a 1-week period. The calculations used here demonstrate that a differential response strategy can substantially reduce the total expected cost of delays in a police response system, thus more efficiently allocating resources than on a first-come, first-served basis. The gradient search method used here will find the optimal set of cutoffs with many fewer iterations than previous models. Results of simulated exercises show that the optimal cutoffs are more sensitive to changes in relative workloads in situations where the probability of needing two cars varied across priority groups. The practical implication of the research is that a simple differential response strategy can maximize resources, while a system that uses a computer algorithm to calculate the optimal number of units to hold back will improve efficiency even more. 6 tables, 3 figures,