NCJ Number
191398
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2001 Pages: 199-209
Editor(s)
William G. Doerner
Date Published
2001
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the reliability, validity, and structure of a scale designed to evaluate community-policing programs.
Abstract
Many police departments tend to tailor survey instruments to the specific need of their jurisdiction, but this can be very costly. Therefore, smaller departments and agencies tend to suffer. This in turn demonstrates the need for a standardized instrument. The three main objectives that guided the construction of the Community Policing Evaluation Survey (CPES) included the following: the first objective was to create a short instrument, which would provide a substantial amount of information in a limited amount of space. This goal was achieved by using information from past studies. The second objective was to ensure that data collection was user friendly. The third goal was to create sub-scales to reflect key components in evaluating community-oriented police agencies. The key components that needed to be measured included the following: quality of contact with the police, perceptions of crime and disorder, personal fear, and community cohesion. In order to test the validity and reliability of these measures CPES was tested in Hattiesburg. Mississippi. This site had many advantages. The most significant reason was the size of the city. The Hattiesburg Police Department incurred no expenses or added costs for this survey. According to the author, despite the limitations of this study, it did provide an adequate measure of community dynamics. Therefore, CPES holds promise in achieving its goals. Tables, references, and appendix