Development and Application of a Model Measuring Public Safety in Taiwan

Abstract

Public safety-related problems exist in all countries, causing the public to fear for their personal safety and that of their property. Maintaining public safety, providing citizens with safe living environments, and realizing sustainable social development are issues that concern not only the public but also local and central governments. Accordingly, this study proposed a measurement model that combines the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to obtain public safety ratings. First, this study used the AHP to analyze the contributions of public safety-related criteria, and the relative weights of the criteria were calculated. Subsequently, TOPSIS was used to calculate the relative closeness coefficients between public safety performance and positive-ideal solutions to evaluate public safety performance. The measurement model proposed in this study was used to rate the public safety performance of 22 cities and counties in Taiwan. The results showed that the criterion weights matched the perceptions of the public, and Lienchiang County, Taitung County, and Penghu County had the best public safety performance. The applicability of the proposed measurement model has been confirmed using real-world data. Thus, it can be used to help decision-makers make complex public safety-related decisions.