NCJ Number
83421
Date Published
1982
Length
269 pages
Annotation
This guide uses a problem-and-solution format to demonstrate how quantitative methods can aid decisionmaking in many areas of security, including program management, administrative reporting, and problem solving.
Abstract
Examples of the more than 50 security problems include selecting the most cost-effective method for replacing 100 locks in a hotel facility and identifying trouble spots at a manufacturing plant in anticipation of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection. Other examples show the use of graphics to illustrate the effectiveness of an entire security operation and assess the effects of new security policies on employee theft. Security directors will learn how to describe data through graphs, charts, and measures of central tendency and dispersion and to interpret financial statements to aid contracting decisions. Probability calculations are introduced in discussions of matrix calculations, Bayes' theorem, binomial probabilities, significance tests, and interval estimates. Forecasting methods include predictions with an independent variable, slopes and intercepts, multivariate and time-series forecasts, and correlations. A chapter on operations research discusses linear programming, simulation, Markov chains, game theory, and other techniques. Computer techniques for using data banks and for dealing with financial ratios and simulations are described. The handbook stresses how to ask the right questions in judging possible applications of quantitative methods. Tables and graphs, annotated bibliographies, an appendix on computer security, and an index are supplied.