A Metafrontier Efficiency Analysis of Regional Police Agencies in Taiwan

This study employs an output-oriented metafrontier DEA (data envelopment analysis) method to evaluate the relative efficiency of regional police agencies in Taiwan. First, this article assesses the technical efficiency of 23 regional police agencies in Taiwan from 2003 to 2007. Second, the observations are separated into 2 subgroups based on population density, in order to calculate the technical efficiency of regional police agencies in the subgroups. Third, the technology gap ratio is measured to find inefficient regions, because of technology gaps. Finally, the Tobit regression is used to study the effects of socio-economic factors on the technical efficiency of police agencies in these regions. The proportion of people aged from 15 to 64 years old and the rate of social increase to population have significantly negative effects on technical efficiency. The high education rate has a significantly positive effect on technical efficiency.