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Abstract
This study is a cross-national exploration of the relationship between the varying degrees of police decentralization and police intensity. Decentralization allows more local choice about policing and police intensity, which allows citizens to express their preferences. Using policy intensity as a proxy for preferences, the paper tests whether police intensity varies between decentralized and centralized systems. The objectives are, first, to examine the association of centralized and decentralized police systems with police intensity via empirical analyses of 70 countries, and, second, to examine the association of centralized and decentralized police systems on police intensity in more and less developed countries. Findings from random effects estimations show that, in the 70 sample countries, more decentralized police systems are inversely associated with police intensity, measured as the number of general purpose police per capita. However, when the countries are categorized as more and less developed based on the Human Development Index, decentralized police systems tend to be positively related to police intensity in countries with a higher index but inversely in countries with a lower index. These findings suggest differential effects of police decentralization, and perhaps decentralization in general, between the two groups of countries.