# Triad influence on the detection of crime in Hong Kong

## TL;DR

This study examines how triad influence affects police efficiency in detecting crime in Hong Kong and suggests ways to improve resource allocation.

## Contribution

The study introduces a method to adjust for triad influence when evaluating police efficiency in crime detection.

## Key findings

- 98% of Hong Kong police districts were found inefficient in crime detection.
- Inefficiencies were most significant in detecting violent and other crimes.
- Adjusting police resource allocation can improve detection without increasing resources.

## Abstract

We use bootstrap data envelopment analysis, adjusting for endogeneity, to examine police efficiency in detecting crime in Hong Kong. We address the following: (i) is there a correlation between the detection of crime and triad influence? (ii) does the level of triad influence affect the efficiency in translating inputs (police strength) into outputs (crime detection)? and (iii) how can the allocation of policing resources be adjusted to improve crime detection? We find that nighty-eight percent of Hong Kong police districts in our sample were found to be inefficient in the detection of crime. Variation was found across districts regarding the detection of violent, property and other crimes. Most inefficiencies and potential improvements in the detection of crime were found in the categories violent and other crimes. We demonstrate how less efficient police districts can modify police resourcing decisions to better detect certain crime types while maintaining current levels of resourcing. Finally, we highlight how the method we outline improves efficiency estimation by adjusting for endogeneity and measuring the conditional efficiency of each district (i.e. the efficiency of crime detection taking the instrumental variables (e.g. influence of triads) into consideration). The use of frontier models to assist in evaluating policing performance can lead to improved efficiency, transparency, and accountability in law enforcement, ultimately resulting in better public safety outcomes and publicly funded resource allocation.