Final assignment

The Police Service

Background
In the public debate on crime and the strength of the police force, it is
often maintained that more policemen on duty will lower the number
of crimes. Since the crime rate has reached unacceptable levels in
some police districts, two districts (3 and 12) have been targeted with
a program to bring down the crime rates. The program was introduced
in July 2007. The program mainly involves strengthening the police
force by raising the number of police officers on duty.
During an audit of the Police Department you are interested in
studying whether the relationship between crime rates and the number
of policemen on duty is as straightforward as it seems. It is also
interesting to relate a targeted commitment to the costs. You have
obtained information on costs, crime rates, population and police
deployment. You have also collected data for other variables that
might be important for an analysis of the crime rate and the effect of
the new crime fighting program.
Question
You have decided to analyse the relationship between crime rates, the
number of inhabitants in different police districts and the number of
police officers on duty. Its also essential to assess if the costs of the
crime fighting program are reasonable in relation to the effects of the
program. You need to present your results in such a way that the
members of the Public Accounts Committee immediately will
understand your conclusion. A simple table of primary observations in
an appendix will not be enough to attract the readers attention.
Audit question
Is the crime fighting program effective?
In the assignment you have to give a presentation of the problem and
show if and how the audit question can be answered with the available
data. Each group should present their solution in class during the
seminar on Friday. Its as important to show how you arrive at your
conclusion as the conclusion in itself.
Data
Data is provided in Excel file format. The data consists of yearly data
from 2006 to 2009 for all police districts. In addition you have also
acquired some more detailed monthly data from some districts, among
else the two districts that have been targeted with the crime fighting
program.