NCJ Number
100329
Date Published
1982
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This manual describes the Law Enforcement Strategies Scale (LSS), its development and validation, and its applications.
Abstract
The LSS is designed to provide a framework for assessing beliefs about law enforcement strategies. It is a 30-item, Likert-type instrument that may be individually or group administered. The LSS contains three scales assessing attitudes toward police roles in law enforcement, order maintenance, and social service. The initial 100-item pool was generated through interviews and research and literature reviews. Administration of the final version to 35 college students indicates test-retest reliability coefficients of .69, .43, and .63 for the 3 scales. Studies involving 74 cadets, 160 veteran police officers, 100 college students, and 20 county sheriffs offer preliminary evidence of the instrument's validity. By providing an objective assessment of law enforcement strategies and beliefs, the LSS should prove useful in training, research, program evaluation and planning, and personnel decisionmaking. 9 references.