NCJ Number
180096
Journal
Policing Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: 1999 Pages: 133-151
Editor(s)
Geoffrey P. Alpert,
Lawrence F. Travis III
Date Published
1999
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The American economist Baumol discovered that some services and products are incompatible with cost reduction and that the cost of these services and products tends to increase without any attendant increase in production; the article examines the extent to which this "cost disease" applies to the police.
Abstract
After describing the mechanism of the "cost disease," this article uses data from the Dutch police to explore the extent to which a relative cost increase has occurred and whether this increase is inevitable. The author then discusses the consequences for cost increases of the police monopoly on most of its services, along with adaptation mechanisms. The study of the Dutch police found a cost increase of 3 to 4.4 percent each year that was not related to an increase in labor productivity. This finding should prompt a search for more elaborate strategies that can cope with the Baumol effect in the future. The awareness of this effect and the necessity of reacting to it demands new concepts and strategies for the police. Until now, new police strategies have focused on which societal problems should have priority in the application of police resources, such that policing costs will have maximum effect on public safety. What should be added are options that could lead to the resolving of the Baumol effect. 3 figures, 11 notes, and 21 references