The impact of COMPSTAT on reported crime in Queensland

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of Queensland Police Service's version of COMPSTAT, known as “Operational Performance Reviews” (OPRs), on reported crime.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employed interrupted time series analytic techniques to examine the impact of OPRs on various categories of reported crime in Queensland. The analyses assessed the extent to which OPRs were associated with crime reductions across the 29 police districts in Queensland.FindingsThe introduction of OPRs was found to be associated with a significant decrease in the total number of reported offences in Queensland. OPRs were found to have their strongest effect on reported unlawful entries into dwellings and unlawful entries into other properties. The overall finding was that OPRs appeared to be a cost‐effective approach to controlling crime, resulting in an overall saving of AUD$1,162,175.Practical implicationsThe current study suggests that COMPSTAT generally – and Queensland's OPRs in particular – can be an effective police management mechanism, which results in observable reductions in reported crimes. Moreover, OPRs appear to be most effective at reducing property‐related crime. Modifications of this performance management process may help to generalize its effects to other types of crime.Originality/valueThis study was the first to provide a systematic examination of the impact of OPRs on a relatively large number of offence categories.