NCJ Number
132244
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 58 Issue: 9 Dated: (September 1991) Pages: 51-52,54-55
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The Performance Appraisal Form (PAF) developed by the Las Vegas police department is designed to overcome weaknesses of previously used systems for evaluating detectives' performances.
Abstract
The PAF is based on a job analysis conducted, researched, and developed by detectives and supervisors under the guidance of personnel specialists. The analysis identified 80 tasks grouped into 7 global duty areas common to all police officers and 8 specific duty areas unique to detective functions. These specific duty areas included opening investigations, preparing cases, conducting field investigations, conducting office investigations, fulfilling administrative duties, presenting and closing cases, and carrying out special investigative duties. Commendation and counseling forms are filled out by supervisors over the course of a year in order to provide timely documentation of exceptional or substandard performance. Pre-evaluations of the detective and the supervisor as a performance appraiser are used to avoid the tendency to rate most employees as average. All supervisors receive eight hours of training in the system, culminating with a fictitious evaluation. The main objective of PAF is to keep the evaluation process as simple as possible while providing sufficient information for reviewers to make independent judgments of the candidates' performance. 1 reference