THE PRINCIPLES DISCUSSED IN THE PRESENTATION ARE MADE CONCRETE BY DESCRIBING HOW THE DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT, DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPROACHED A CHANGE IN PERSONNEL EVALUATION SYSTEMS. IT IS BELIEVED THE DADE COUNTY EXPERIENCE CAN HELP PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATORS IN OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES BETTER FORMULATE AN APPROACH TO THEIR OWN UNIQUE SITUATIONS. TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS IN POLICE DEPARTMENTS ARE CRITICIZED AS TOO VAGUE AND UNRELATED TO THE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES OF THE WORK REQUIRED. THE FIRST STEP PROPOSED A REMEDY IS TO CONDUCT A JOB ANALYSIS THAT WILL DETERMINE THE ASPECT OF PERFORMANCE TO BE MEASURED. SECONDLY, THE BEHAVIOR THAT WILL BE USED AS AN ANCHOR TO DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE FOR EACH PERFORMANCE CATEGORY IS DETERMINED. THE THIRD STEP INVOLVES CRITERIA SELECTION, WHICH IS THE CHOICE OF ITEMS THAT WILL ACT AS ANCHORS FOR THE FINAL RATING SCALES. THE FOURTH AND FINAL STEP IS THE CHOICE OF A FORMAT FOR THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL. A PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM IS VIEWED AS A CONTINUING PROCESS BECAUSE ORGANIZATIONS AND SITUATIONS CHANGE, AS DO THE PERSONNEL WHO SUPERVISE THEM; CONTINUING EVALUATION AND MODIFICATION OF A BASICALLY SOUND SYSTEM ARE THEREFORE SUGGESTED. THE APPENDIXES CONTAIN A SAMPLE EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE REPORT AND INSTRUCTIONS AND EXAMPLES FOR PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION SCALES IN DADE COUNTY. (RCB)