Improving highway accident management through patrol beat scheduling

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to improve the efficiency of accident management from the angle of reducing highway accident response times while taking into account total daily work hours.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors developed a patrol beat scheduling model, which is formulated as a chance-constrained optimization model, with the objective of minimizing the sum of officer work hours. Along with the model, a simulation program was also developed to help evaluate the effectiveness of the model-generated beat schedule in terms of response times.

Findings

This study concluded that, first, the current manually designed beat schedule could be improved should the National Highway Police Bureau adopt the proposed model. Second, the total daily work hours of the model-generated schedule at the confidence level of 100 percent were 64 hours, 21 hours less than the average work hours recorded in the 2006 data, or about an improvement of 24 percent. Should the model be adopted, not only response times will be improved, the 24 percent reduction in work hours could be translated into a cut in personnel cost.

Research limitations/implications

The scheduling model and simulation program are both built upon one-year historical data whose accuracy and completeness is prerequisite.

Practical implications

The proposed model can be adopted by other public service agencies such as fire departments, or emergency service centers. By replacing the historical data used in the study with their own data, agencies can evaluate the efficiency of their existing schedule or generate various schedules based on institutional needs.

Originality/value

This model utilizes historical accident data to generate optimal beat schedule and evaluate the efficiency of such schedule. Similar models have not been found in other studies.

Citation

Wu, J.-S. and Lou, T.-c. (2014), "Improving highway accident management through patrol beat scheduling", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 108-125. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-12-2012-0116