After reviewing key theoretical aspects of the communication of police organizations with the society they serve and the link of such communication with police job satisfaction, this paper reports on a survey of Slovenian police to determine whether there is a connection between police communication with community organizations and the job satisfaction of police officers.
If a police agency is to be effective in serving the residents of its jurisdiction, it must engage in surveys of and interactions with residents to determine their security needs, their attitudes toward public safety, and their expectations and perceptions of police performance. This paper posits that police job satisfaction is related to the degree to which police understand the needs of the community they serve and succeed in meeting those needs to the satisfaction of the community. To test this hypothesis, police officers from four agencies in Slovenia were surveyed. Of 600 questionnaires sent to police officers between November 22 and December 19, 2003, 388 were completed and returned. One independent variable measured in the survey was communication with the society, as measured by police officers' communication with representatives from organizations, police communication with witnesses and victims, and communication of officers with offenders. Other independent variables were age, period of service, gender, and education. Police job satisfaction was the dependent variable, as measured by the stimulation of work tasks, satisfaction with interpersonal relations, satisfaction with the means of work, work with people, and overall job satisfaction. The study found that more experienced officers who were skilled in interacting with the community had greater job satisfaction; whereas, officers with less experience and less knowledge in communicating with the community had less job satisfaction. Implications for police training are discussed. 2 tables and 33 references