Examining terrorism threat and police performance

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between terrorism threat and police performance. Hierarchical multivariate linear modelling technique is used in this study. The units of analyses were provinces of Turkey (at level two) and years (at level one). The relationship between terrorism threat (operationalised as ideological incidents reported to the police) and police performance (operationalised as crime clearance rate) is assessed. Socio-economic development, population size, and the size of minority population are controlled. This paper concludes that there is a significant relationship between terrorism threat and police performance within the provinces of Turkey. However, this relationship is contextualised by the size of the minority population within the provinces. More specifically, as the size of the minority population increases, the negative effect of terrorism threat on police performance strengthens. Police performance is operationalised as crime clearance rates. Moreover, only the more serious crimes are included in the calculation of crime clearance rates. Other operationalisations of police performance might yield different results. The level of terrorism threat needs to be considered while assessing police performance.