World Police Index

In the realm of global competitiveness, where nations and organizations strive to lead in various fields of development and progress, internationally recognized think tanks annually launch indices. These indices are embraced by organizations like the United Nations. One such index is the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI), which was conceived by Dr. Mamdooh Abdelmottlep and developed by a team of experts, researchers, and scholars from different countries across the globe. The WISPI, in collaboration with the International Police Science Association (IPSA) and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), comprises indicators designed to assess internal security and police systems in all countries.

The index encompasses scientific qualitative and quantitative indicators that address the capacity and effectiveness of police and security service providers in tackling global internal security issues. WISPI’s indicators define the minimum standards that must be adhered to in order to ensure continuous control over the quality of security services rendered, thereby ensuring the security and safety of society and its members. These rules are regularly updated in accordance with internationally agreed-upon requirements and advancements in scientific and practical knowledge.

The World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI), now known as the Global Police and Security Index (GPSI), serves as a tool to assess and enhance the performance of police work worldwide. The index aims to evaluate the effectiveness of police systems and make improvements where necessary WISPI measures the performance of police and security service providers in four domains and 16 internationally accredited scientific indicators:

1. Capabilities of police institutions.
2. Operations carried out by police to ensure security.
3. Outcomes of security performance in terms of society’s security and safety of its members.
4. Legal framework governing police work with regard to human rights.

The key objectives of the index are to:

1. Assess the performance of security service providers.
2. Demonstrate the impact of security policies on local communities.
3. Enhance the ability of security service providers to deliver efficient security services.
4. Provide an international benchmark in the fields of security and crime.
5. Evaluate the progress made by countries in specific security domains by tracking their performance in the annual index reports.
6. Utilize international experiences to identify weaknesses and priorities for security reform and improvement.

In conjunction with the announcement of the index results, a separate publication containing guidelines for police reform will be presented. These guidelines aim to assist countries with lower rankings on the index in improving their security performance.

The index was created by Prof. Mamdooh Abdelhameed Abdelmottlep, the Executive Chairman of IPSA, and developed by a joint research team of experts, researchers, and scholars from Australia, England, and the United States. This team, supervised by Prof. Abdelmottlep, is associated with the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) and the International Police Science Association (IPSA). The tasks undertaken by IEP and IPSA in collaboration include introducing the index, defining its scope, designing an international security index to govern security standards, collecting data from all countries, conducting benchmarking, establishing a database, testing the index’s robustness, and continuously improving the index.

The index has a dedicated web page that is updated annually and includes interactive maps. At the global level, the Global Peace Index, launched according to the Geneva Protocol, and the Global Terrorism Index exist. However, these indices do not measure internal security states; rather, they focus on instances of violence in countries. Several local indices measuring peacefulness within countries and focusing on outcomes rather than inputs also exist. Examples of such local indices include the United States Peace Index (USPI), United Kingdom Peace Index (UKPI), and Mexico Peace Index (MPI). Consequently, Dr. Mamdooh developed the international index for internal security.

The IEP is a renowned think tank dedicated to developing metrics for peace analysis and quantifying its economic value. It possesses extensive experience in designing and constructing indices and indicators, having previously released the Global Peace Index, Global Terrorism Index, and several local indices such as the United States Peace Index (USPI), United Kingdom Peace Index (UKPI), and Mexico Peace Index (MPI). The IEP has been ranked among the top 15 most impactful think tanks globally according to the Global Go To Think Tank Index. It is a non-governmental organization accredited by the United Nations and holds consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

To maintain the scientific and professional integrity of the index and ensure an accurate reflection of each country’s security state, the research team excluded indicators or information obtained from sources with political affiliations.

The first report of the WISPI was announced at the United Nations Geneva in November 2016, with copies of the WISPI Report and Police Reform Guidelines being distributed to all United Nations member states by IPSA. For the second iteration, scheduled for release in 2023, IPSA has urged UN member states to provide feedback on the results of the first iteration. Lectures and debates were conducted to explain the WISPI results, and an expert poll was conducted to gather opinions.

After the publication and application of the WISPI index, countries, organizations, researchers, and experts provided their insights on the standards governing the index. This led to modifications in the methodology and the addition of a level that measures cities within each country. The second revised report, titled the Global Police and Security Index (GPSI), was released in July 2023 in cooperation with the World Police Summit (WPS) and the Institute for Economics and Peace.

It is hoped that the new index will further strengthen IPSA’s role in encouraging countries to enhance their internal security, protect communities from crime, and foster positive competition in this domain.