Operational research applied in the field of public security: The ordering of policing strategies such as the ELECTRE IV

Abstract

Purpose

Because that the crime in a wide way impacts the life of the people in the big metropolis, researchers have treated the question from several angles. The purpose of the paper, under the umbrella of operational research, is to develop a model of the ordering of police strategies, in the fight against crime in general, according to a certain criminal demand.

Design/methodology/approach

For the construction of the impact matrix of the strategies under the reduction of crime rates, considering a portfolio of crimes, a questionnaire applied to specialists was used. In a second moment, defined the criteria and strategies to be ordered, the multicriteria ELECTRE IV method was used, which with the help of the J-Electre software emulated the systematized data in the impact matrix and produced the final ordering of the most efficient strategies, in the fight against crime, in the perception of decision-makers.

Findings

As a result, the research revealed that policing strategies directed at solving specific crimes are the most effective in the perception of decision-makers after the emulation of data with the ELECTRE IV method.

Research limitations/implications

As research implications, it can be inferred that the use of multicriteria methods in the modeling of problems in the area of public security can contribute to rationalization of the use of the means available in the fight against crime in large cities. The research showed that it is possible to use customized policing strategies to a certain reality.

Practical implications

The method presented in this research is directly related to the major strategies: problem-oriented policing and hot spot policing. This method allows public safety managers to consider the possibility of combining different law enforcement strategies in each context. In this sense, the use of the multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) (ELECTRE IV) method allows the evaluation of a large set of alternatives according to a set of established criteria, speeding up the process and reducing subjectivity, allowing the manager to analyze several scenarios with greater clarity and impartiality and choosing an alternative that best solves the proposed problem. The expected result is the rationalization of the available means applied in the search for the reduction of crime rates.

Social implications

The customization of policing strategies, according to criminal demands, implies the efficient way to reduce criminal charges. Reducing criminal rates enables the development of the local economy, tourism and the quality of life of people by exercising their freedom to the full.

Originality/value

The originality lies in filling a gap in the literature with the elaboration of the impact matrix of policing strategies in reducing criminal indices, and in their associated use in ordering strategies through a multicriteria method.

Citation

Basilio, M.P. and Pereira, V. (2020), "Operational research applied in the field of public security: The ordering of policing strategies such as the ELECTRE IV", Journal of Modelling in Management, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 1227-1276. https://doi.org/10.1108/JM2-02-2019-0034