Improving Police Performance in Rajasthan, India: Experimental Evidence on Incentives, Managerial Autonomy, and Training

Management matters for firms, but what practices are optimal in hierarchical government organizations? And can skilled managers identify them? A large-scale randomized trial conducted with the police of Rajasthan, India, tested four interventions recommended by senior officers: limitations transfers, rotation duties and days off, increased community involvement, on-duty training. Field experience motivated a fifth intervention: “decoy” visits enumerators to register cases, incentivizing staff improve service. Only training decoy had robust impacts; others were poorly implemented ineffective. reforms policing, even leaders struggle interventions. (JEL H76, J24, J45, K42, M53, O17)