Does Modernization Improve Performance: Evidence from Indian Police

This paper aims to measure the role of police modernization scheme in its performance in crime repression. We use output distance function as an analytical tool and estimate it using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) framework in a ‘single stage’. We find that the police modernization scheme is helping the state police departments in enhancing their performance, i.e., the police departments which have more modern communication equipments and which are spending more money on the training of their police personnel are doing better. The police density is found to be one of the major determinants of its efficiency along with the factors that create more social cohesion. The total factor productivity (TFP) is governed by the catch-up effect which is worsening over time though the technological progress has been observed in most of the states.