NCJ Number
90299
Journal
Baseline Data Report Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1983) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1983
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Police departments have used various approaches to respond to personnel management issues in the face of inflation and budget cutbacks.
Abstract
A mail survey of the police chiefs in all cities with populations of 10,000 or more received a 49-percent response rate. The questions covered budgets, the numbers and types of personnel, selection criteria, lateral entry from other jurisdictions, residency requirements, training, and other issues such as moonlighting and mandatory retirement. Nearly two-thirds of the 1,267 responding agencies reported that their budgets had not kept up with the rate of inflation over the last 3 years. Of these, 73 percent had suffered budget losses or had lost other sources of funding. Layoffs had occurred in almost one-fifth of the departments which had experienced budget cuts. Some departments permitted moonlighting; others did not. Some prohibited officers from working as security guards, while others permitted this work on the grounds that officers should be able to use their police powers and skills to earn more money. Larger departments tended to use written examinations to select employees more often than did smaller agencies. Virtually all used background investigations and medical examinations. Data tables, 36 reference notes, and an appendix describing the survey method are provided.