Over the last 20 years, governments around the world have implemented strategies and targets to ensure that public services are efficient in the management of resources. In the UK this common agenda has led to the recent ‘Police Reform Act 2002’ in which consideration was given on how police forces can show ‘Value for Money’ based on government strategic policy targets. This paper discusses the ‘Performance Radar’ technique proposed by the Home Office in the United Kingdom as a new public policy objective in order to assess police force performance. We show, utilising an innovative nonparametric modelling strategy, that environmental factors and revenues can have significant effects on whether a police force is deemed to be efficient. Further, the results presents evidence that survey data should not be utilised as a basis to assess police performance
