NCJ Number
139599
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: (1992) Pages: 37-54
Date Published
1992
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Personnel data from the official records of a medium-sized police department in a midwestern city were used to examine differences between college-educated police officers and those without college education with respect to citizen complaints that were founded.
Abstract
The study population included 120 full-time sworn officers employed during a 5-year period in a city of 60,000 that is mainly a university town. The police population was 84 percent male and 88 percent white, with an average of 10.3 years of service in the agency. They averaged 37.5 years of age and ranged from 22 to 66 years. They all had at least 2 years of college education. A total of 92 founded complaints were filed against 43 of the officers. The remaining 77 officers had no founded complaints during the 5-year period. Results provided limited support for earlier research regarding the relationship between levels of police officer education and citizen complaints and indicated the need for further refinement of the relationship. Findings revealed that those who had completed at least a 4-year degree had a significantly lower rate of citizen complaints than did officers with less than a degree, but more than 2 years of college. The same relationship was found for citizen complaints of rudeness, in which officers with degrees had significantly fewer such complaints than did their peers with less than a degree. Tables and 46 references