NCJ Number
62474
Date Published
1979
Length
19 pages
Annotation
METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS ARE REPORTED FROM A STUDY MEASURING THE CORRELATION BETWEEN OFFICER ATTITUDES AND EDUCATION, AND BASED ON FINDINGS AND A REVIEW OF LITERATURE, RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS ARE OFFERED.
Abstract
DATA FOR THIS RESEARCH WERE COLLECTED AS PART OF THE EVALUATION OF A MAJOR REFORM PROGRAM UNDERTAKEN BY THE DALLAS, TEXAS POLICE DEPARTMENT BETWEEN 1973 AND 1976 (KELLING AND WYCOFF, 1978). QUESTIONNAIRES FOR 1,535 OF THE SUBJECTS WERE OBTAINED TO COLLECT DATA ON OFFICER ATTITUDES AND TYPES OF EDUCATION RECEIVED. MULTIPLE REGRESSION STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WAS USED TO ALLOW FOR SIMULTANEOUS CONTROL OF CONTINUOUS AND CATEGORICAL INDEPENDENT VARIABLES. RESULTS, EVEN WHEN USING A MODEL THAT INCLUDED RELATIVELY DISCRIMINATING MEASURES OF EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM, FAILED TO SHOW A SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OFFICER ATTITUDES AND TYPE OF EDUCATION. A REVIEW OF LITERATURE SHOWS THAT WHEN DEPENDENT VARIABLES ARE PERFORMANCE OR ARE BEHAVIORALLY ORIENTED INSTEAD OF ATTITUDINAL, HIGHER LEVELS OF EDUCATION TEND TO CORRELATE WITH MORE SOPHISTICATED AND APPROVED OFFICER PERFORMANCE. BECAUSE ATTITUDINAL MEASURES ARE A STEP REMOVED FROM ACTUAL PERFORMANCE, AND THEY ARE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO CONFORMING INFLUENCES OF THE PEER SUBCULTURE, FUTURE RESEARCH SHOULD FOCUS UPON OFFICER PERFORMANCE MEASURES, TO BE RELATED TO EVER MORE PRECISE MEASURES OF EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE. A REVIEW OF LITERATURE ALSO SHOWS THAT ATTITUDES OF POLICE SUPERVISORY PERSONNEL ARE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTED BY THEIR EDUCATIONAL LEVELS, PERHAPS BECAUSE OF THEIR COMPARATIVE SEPARATION FROM THE PATROL OFFICER SUBCULTURE THIS FINDING WOULD DICTATE FURTHER RESEARCH INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDE AND EDUCATION IN THIS PARTICULAR POLICE POPULATION. TABULAR DATA, FOOTNOTES, AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)