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Testing a Typology of Police Performance Measures: An Empirical Study of Police Services

NCJ Number
186495
Journal
Criminal Justice and Policy Review Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2000 Pages: 63-83
Author(s)
XiaoHu Wang; James J. Vardalis; Ellen G. Cohn
Date Published
March 2000
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This research used a mail survey of public agency administrators in three Florida counties to test a typology used to classify performance measures used in local police agencies; the typology classifies performance measures into three categories: objective output measures, objective outcome measures, and subjective outcome measures.
Abstract
The typology included 12 performance measures selected from an initial pool of 400 possible measures and narrowed through interviews with police chiefs, police officers, criminal justice scholars, and municipal decision makers. A pretest of 10 public officials formed the basis of modifications. The mail survey reached 446 elected officials, city managers, police chiefs, and finance administrators in all general-purpose municipalities with populations of 2,500 or greater in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. Responses came from 178 individuals, for a response rate of 40 percent. The analysis tested the hypothesis that this three-domain typology can measure public officials’ preferences of police performance measures and that it was possible to group their preferences as output oriented, objective-outcome oriented, or subjective-outcome oriented. Results indicated that this three-part typology can represent local officials’ preferences for police performance measures. Tables and 39 references (Author abstract modified)