Performance Measurement in Government Service Provision: The Case of Police Services in New South Wales

The NSW Government is implementing a financial framework which is designed to encourage government service providers to become more efficient and effective. NSW Treasury is using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the efficiency of major government service providers, such as police, courts and hospitals. This paper outlines the progress in implementing the new financial framework and illustrates the way NSW Treasury will use DEA to help improve the efficiency of government service providers by describing an analysis of the NSW Police Service. The results suggest that NSW police patrols (local police districts) could, on average, reduce input usage by 13.5 percent through better management, and by 6 percent if the patrols could be restructured to achieve the optimal scale. Results also indicate that differences in operating environments, such as location and socioeconomic factors, do not have a significant influence upon the efficiency of police patrols.     

A sequential model for cracking down on street markets for illicit drugs

This paper develops a sequential decision-making model for assisting law enforcement officials in allocating resources during a crackdown operation on illicit drug markets. The sequential crackdown model (SCM) considers a probabilistic framework, where the probability of incarceration of a dealer and the probability of dealing are modeled as a function of the size of a drug market, crackdown enforcement level, drug dealer's financial hardship, and other market characteristics.The model was developed and tested in consultation with enforcement officials from Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ. We present a detailed, step-by-step implementation scheme for updating parameters on each day of the crackdown. Parameter estimation along with examples of model usage is provided. Through these examples, we illustrate how the SCM could be helpful in understanding the response of illicit drug markets to various enforcement strategies. We further show conditions under which an alternating crackdown policy (referred to as a crackdown-backoff) or a consistent use of maximum possible enforcement would be optimal strategies for managing a drug crackdown operation. Within the context of the model and parameter estimates, we show that a much quicker and less costly collapse could be implemented if the available enforcement resources are increased. Finally, the model provides possible conditions under which a crackdown operation would be unsuccessful in eliminating a drug market.     

Police culture,tourists and destinations: A study of Uttarakhand,India

The present study examines the quality of service provided by police officials at tourist sites in the Uttarakhand region, India and its impact on the level of tourists' confidence in the police. The study also investigates the role that police culture plays in determining quality of service and the effect of leader behavior in moderating the relationship between them. A survey method was used for data collection from the police officials and the onsite tourists. Data analysis was carried out using CFA and an SPSS macro named PROCESS. Results showed that police organizational culture has a direct influence on tourists' confidence in the police and police service quality partially mediates the relationship between the two; also leader behavior positively moderates between police culture and service quality. This study adds to the literature on tourists' confidence in the policing of tourist sites, police culture, leader behavior, and police service quality.     

美军未来地面运输装备前瞻

现代科技与人类创造力的完善结合创造出许多极富想象力的现代机械,文章介绍了四种将在未来装备美军的地面运输装备,包括未来战斗系统中的后勤机器人车辆、未来战术卡车系统、机械外骨骼、仿生学机器人,它们不仅是可以高效完成战场运输任务的运输机械．更是美军科研创新体制先进性的证明,其研发思路和功能运用对我军相关研究具有启示和借鉴作用。     

新时期我国城市化动力机制及政策选择

新时期我国需要继续推进城市化,这对于产业结构调整、启动内需和经济增长具有重要意义.在总结过去30年我国城市化发展历程基础上,针对国内外经济发展环境的变化,本文分析了城市化动力机制演变及下一阶段的政策路径选择.文章认为,释放内需市场、消除阻碍要素流动的制度障碍和提倡低碳城市是我国新时期城市化发展的基本途径.     

Macroforces driving change into the new millennium — major challenges for the hospitality professional

The fast pace of change will present many challenges in the new millennium. The success of the leader of tomorrow will depend on how well he or she is able to identify the forces that will drive change, invest in industry leading competitive methods that will take advantage of the opportunities presented by these forces and consistently allocate resources to these methods. Identifying the forces driving change is the most challenging aspect of this co-alignment concept. This paper explores the macroforces, which can be expected to drive change, and possible impact they will have on the hospitality organization. These forces include: globalization and economic change, a knowledge-based environment, the future of labor and quality in service delivery systems, and the growing consumer desire for improved well-being. These forces are presented along with the key variables making them up with the goal of understanding their complexities and interdependencies.     

Technological change in the military aircraft industry

This paper analyzes technological change in the U.S. military aircraft industry. It divides this technological change into two components, methods of production and product quality innovations. The basic findings of this paper are obtained from a comparison of the F-4 and F-15 technologies. The results show that new production technologies reduce the costs of manufacturing a weapon system, but that product improvements substantially increase costs.     

城市空间发展战略的竞争环境分析——以苏州太湖科技产业园规划为例

文章将城市置于区域范围内考虑,运用经济学中"五种力量模型"理论,整体性研究分析了城市在区域竞争环境中的发展原则与策略.提出通过知识经济内涵更新、产业转型创意、环境生态改良、文化传承复兴及都市空间的复合与宜居化等途径来提高城市在竞争过程中的自适应性和综合竞争能力.     

浅谈如何深入推进公安派出所消防监督管理工作

文章结合具体的工作经验,阐明了开展公安派出所消防监督管理工作的办法和措施,对指导消防监督工作起着积极的作用。     

Political openness and armed conflict: Evidence from local councils in Colombia

In this paper, I empirically investigate how the openness of political institutions to diverse representation can impact conflict-related violence. Regression discontinuity estimates that exploit plausibly exogenous variations in the number of councillors in Colombian municipalities show that political openness substantially decreases conflict-related violence, namely the killing of civilian non-combatants. Empirical evidence suggests that the lower level of political violence stems from parties with close links to armed groups having greater representation on larger municipal councils. Using data about the types of violence employed by these groups, and government representation, I argue that armed violence has decreased not because of power-sharing arrangements involving armed groups linked to the parties with more political representation, but rather because armed groups with more political power deter other groups from initiating certain types of violence.