NCJ Number
54384
Date Published
1978
Length
117 pages
Annotation
USING NUMBER OF COLLEGE HOURS COMPLETED AND POLICE OFFICER PERFORMANCE RATINGS AS MEASURES, THIS STUDY EXAMINES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND POLICE PERFORMANCE FOR A SAMPLE OF 70 OFFICERS.
Abstract
THE OFFICERS, EMPLOYED BY A MEDIUM-SIZED, MIDWESTERN POLICE DEPARTMENT, WERE ISSUED A QUESTIONNAIRE TO DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF COLLEGE HOURS THEY HAD COMPLETED AND THE TYPE OF COLLEGE EDUCATION. SUPERVISORS WERE ASKED TO RATE THE OFFICERS ACCORDING TO A PAIRED-COMPARISON RATING SCALE. A PEARSON PRODUCT-MOMENT CORRELATION COEFFICIENT WAS COMPUTED TO TEST THE BASIC NULL HYPOTHESIS THAT THERE WAS NO RELATIONSHIP IN POLICE PATROL OFFICER'S PERFORMANCE AS JUDGED BY SUPERVISORS AND DIFFERENT LEVELS OF COLLEGE EDUCATION AS MEASURED BY COLLEGE HOURS COMPLETED. THE CORRELATION COEFFICIENT WAS NOT SIGNIFICANT, AND THE NULL HYPOTHESIS WAS NOT REJECTED. FURTHER ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT SIGNIFICANT CORRELATIONS EXISTED BETWEEN MONTHS AN OFFICER WAS EMPLOYED BY THE DEPARTMENT, EDUCATIONAL LEVEL WHEN JOINING THE DEPARTMENT, AND TOTAL COLLEGE HOURS THE OFFICER HAD COMPLETED AFTER JOINING THE DEPARTMENT. THE CONCLUSION CAN BE DRAWN FOR THIS GROUP OF OFFICERS THAT COLLEGE EDUCATION SHOULD NOT BE THE PRIMARY CRITERION FOR SELECTING PATROL OFFICERS. TABULAR DATA, THE STUDY QUESTIONNAIRES, AND REFERENCES ARE APPENDED. (DAG)