We all expect the police to be focused on protecting us from harm and catching criminals. And, in my experience, the vast majority of police officers are dedicated men and women who take their service commitment seriously. However, that does not mean our protection should be achieved irrespective of cost.

Nikolaj Veje is Finance Director (CFO) for the Danish National Police and one of their most senior leaders. At this point, you might be thinking this means he is a master criminologist with years of experience catching bad guys, but Veje’s major disciplines are economics and financial management.

Before Veje joined the Danish National Police, they were in crisis; there were disparities in performance between the various operational forces, costs were increasing at an alarming rate and trust in the police from both citizens and politicians was decreasing. Their inability to effectively manage a budget meant that the police were only allowed to budget for one fiscal year at a time - making long-term planning and budgeting impossible. It was clear that the force needed an additional competence: financial management, and that’s where Veje enters the picture.

In his presentation at the Premier Business Leadership Series in Amsterdam, Veje shared with the audience his experience of using Activity Based Management (ABM) within the Danish National Police to allocate and optimise resources to meet their strategic objectives.

So, how do you focus on cost efficient police service delivery? By analyzing what the police do (the tasks or activities), understanding the costs of each of these activities and relating those to the desired outcomes. Then comparisons can be made, identifying best practice which can be shared with other parts of the force and benchmarks established. Where differences appear, further examination can identify whether the cause is external (e.g. geographic / demographic) or internal (poor processes or where additional support may be required). It also means that commanders can engage in a discussion about performance, priorities, resources and outcomes.

To quote from Veje‘s presentation, "Excellent strategic management is not achieved solely by tight financial management focused on budget and allocation control. It also requires insight into (and management of) how the resources are put to use and the results thereof."

For me, this echoes a sentiment I have heard many times in the public sector: A constrained budget, combined with a statutory obligations requires finding effective ways of delivering excellence. It's not (just) about bearing down on costs in isolation. With a budget in excess of 1.25 billion euros, there is plenty of opportunity for the Danish National Police to finesse their budget, but there is little about policing you can opt out of. The task then is to deliver great policing at a cost we can all afford.

Although Veje described many benefits of effective ABM, three stood out:

1. Management decisions can be aligned with strategy.
2. Resources can be allocated to activities with a high priority.
3. Resources can then be made available for new priorities.

In addition, true costs can be allocated to activities meaningful performance indicators can be developed and reported. Perhaps the biggest benefit is in the increase in trust; now the police are seen as an exemplar of cost management and trusted by government to propose and manage multi-year budgets.

So not only can analytics be used to detect and prevent crime, it can also help national and regional police forces most effectively do their job to protect us and catch the bad guys.