Policing and Economic Calculation

What are the costs of a bureaucratically administrated police force? This article applies the concept of economic calculation to the provision of policing and security services. It argues that a number of major issues in policing today—constitutional protections regarding searches and seizures, the proper levels of use of force, and balancing the protections of officers with the protection of the public—arise from the inability of bureaucratically managed police agencies to engage in economic calculation. It further argues that these issues cannot be resolved through reform of government provision of policing, but only through a system of competitive provision.