NCJ Number
173833
Date Published
1997
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This report describes how the police forces of England and Wales use the information they collect when they survey the public on the quality of service they deliver.
Abstract
Research for this report focused on identifying who received survey findings and whether and what actions were prompted by the findings. Police managers tended to give quality of service survey findings a low priority, and identified a number of factors that reduce the likelihood of their greater use. These factors included the time lag in report findings, and their association with headquarters rather than local-level policing. However, the research did uncover innovative initiatives to improve dissemination of results to those officers in daily contact with the public, and showed that quality of service surveys could directly result in improvements in working practices. Police forces can make best use of service surveys if they first devise an overall management information strategy that identifies the role of all data collection methods. Such a strategy will provide useful guidance on the way quality of service survey findings can be used. Tables, references