THE AUTHORS FIRST BRIEFLY REVIEW THE EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTS RELEVANT TO THE EVALUATION PROCESS IN POLICE WORK. THEY THEN IDENTIFY SOME OF THE MORE COMMON PHILOSOPHIES ACCOMPANYING PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT, POINTING OUT THE EXPECTED RESULTS OF EACH OF THESE PHILOSOPHIES IN TERMS OF THE DECISIONS THAT HAVE TO BE MADE EACH DAY ABOUT SUBORDINATES. NEXT, THEY TRY TO IDENTIFY CURRENT TRENDS IN PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT. FINALLY, THEY POINT OUT THE MORE COMMON PITFALLS TO AVOID IN THE ACTUAL ADMINISTRATION OF A PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PLAN, SOME TECHNIQUES FOR AVOIDING THESE PITFALLS, AND A GENERAL FRAMEWORK FOR STRUCTURING OR RESTRUCTURING AN APPRAISAL SYSTEM. SEE ALSO NCJ-16352. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)