NCJ Number
129989
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: (1990) Pages: 93-109
Date Published
1990
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Data was collected over a 4-year period from 150 police sergeants who worked for departments employing between 25 and 125 sworn officers and who attended continuing education courses in police supervision. The questionnaire to which they responded requested information on the evaluation process they used to assess officer performance.
Abstract
Of the 150 subjects, 81 percent used a formal performance evaluation system; 93 percent of those sergeants used processes borrowed from other agencies. None of these evaluators conducted a job analysis to identify critical elements of performance upon which their evaluations could be validated as required by Federal law and by court rulings in civil litigation cases. A large percentage of the sergeants held negative views on their evaluative processes for several reasons, including the imposition of the system on supervisors by the administration, their lack of training in evaluation procedures, and the subjectivity of the criteria. The authors recommend that police departments conduct a job analysis followed by development of a set of behavioral descriptions to act as guidelines for evaluation. Each year, employees should be evaluated and police chiefs should review the evaluation system. Finally, administrators should seek the input of the supervisory officers when developing an evaluation process. 2 tables, 5 notes, and 44 references