NCJ Number
84733
Date Published
1982
Length
22 pages
Annotation
A survey of a sample of police agencies obtained data on general organizational characteristics, personnel practices, the extent of human resource planning, and a variety of factors thought to influence personnel matters and human resource planning in police agencies.
Abstract
The agency survey sample consisted of the 49 State police agencies and the 201 largest local police agencies according to 1977 full-time equivalent employees. From this sample, 164 surveys were returned in usable form, yielding a response rate of 65.6 percent. The response rate for each level of police agency, each category of agency size, and each geographical section of the country exceeded 50 percent. Findings show that while a few of the component activities of human resource planning many exceed the present technical capacities of most police agencies, overall the current level of data collection and activity indicates a willingness and ability to do human resource planning. Several features of a police agency's situation, such as the opportunity to hire, competition for qualified applicants, sound economics, and relative freedom from union constraint on personnel matters, are somewhat predictive of human resource planning activity. In addition, agency perceptions that it is able to anticipate budget fluctuations and that rational planning has some effect on how well it fares at budget time and on the kinds of people it employs may also be associated with increased human resource planning. What is missing primarily in most police agencies is an integrated vision of human resource management within the overall mission of the organization and an ability to preserve a planning orientation amid the daily crises confronting police administrators. Tabular data, 26 references, and 4 notes are provided.