IACP Working for You: Benchmarking and Performance Analytics: Your New Tool for Data-Driven Decision-Making

The law enforcement profession abounds with data and metrics—crime and clearance rates, staffing ratios, training hours, salary levels, and so forth. Humans have a natural desire to gauge performance, which is often accomplished by comparing performance, data, or accomplishments with those of their peers. Law enforcement leaders are no different—chiefs want to know how their agencies are doing relative to other agencies. Understanding the various approaches other agencies employ to handle contemporary issues can inform or validate a current or proposed course of action. Such insights and comparisons are helpful from a management perspective in a variety of situations, including during budget preparations, when advocating for agency needs before governing officials, and when communicating with the public and the media. In fact, much of the value of IACP membership lies in the opportunities provided by the association to network, receive peer-to-peer support, and share promising practices.