THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESPONSE TIME AND HIGHER CITIZEN EVALUATION OF POLICE AS WELL AS THE IMPACT OF CITIZEN EXPECTATIONS OF POLICE RESPONSE TIME ON THEIR EVALUATION.
DATA SETS WERE OBTAINED FROM A LARGE-SCALE POLICE SERVICES STUDY CONDUCTED BY THE UNIVERSITIES OF INDIANA AND NORTH CAROLINA. THE FIRST DATA SET RELEVANT TO RESPONSE TIME WAS DRAWN FROM A GENERAL CITIZEN SURVEY WITHIN 3 METROPOLITAN AREAS INVOLVING 60 NEIGHBORHOODS SERVED BY 24 POLICE AGENCIES. APPROXIMATELY 200 TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED PER NEIGHBORHOOD FOR A TOTAL OF 12,000 RESPONDENTS. QUESTIONS ANSWERED WERE ON THE NATURE OF VICTIMIZATION, ITS LOCATION, HOW POLICE WERE NOTIFIED, WHETHER POLICE RESPONDED, RESPONSE TIME, AND CITIZEN SATISFACTION WITH POLICE PERFORMANCE. IN A SECOND DATA SET, CITIZENS IN RECENT CONTACT WITH POLICE WERE INTERVIEWED AFTER POLICE DISPATCH OPERATIONS AND PATROL OFFICERS HAD BEEN OBSERVED ON DUTY IN RESPONSE TO THEIR CALLS. THESE 1,700 DEBRIEFING INTERVIEWS CONSISTED OF DETAILED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM, WHAT THE POLICE DID, AND THE RESPONDENTS' EVALUATION OF POLICE ACTIONS. RESPONDENTS TO THE GENERAL CITIZEN SURVEY PERCEIVING A RAPID POLICE RESPONSE WERE MORE APT TO RATE THEIR CHANCES OF BEING VICTIMIZED AS UNLIKELY THAN WERE THOSE ACTUALLY PERCEIVING SLOWER RESPONSE TIME. THE MAJORITY OF GENERAL SURVEY RESPONDENTS RATED POLICE SERVICES AS OUTSTANDING OR VERY GOOD. FURTHER, THE GENERAL CITIZEN SURVEY REVEALED THAT 2.29 PERCENT OF THE HOUSEHOLDS HAD BEEN VICTIMIZED DURING THE PREVIOUS YEAR. A SEPARATE ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED OF THESE VICTIMIZATION CASES WITH RESPECT TO RESPONSE TIME. RATINGS OF RESPONSE TIME REVEALED THAT 30 PERCENT FOUND THAT POLICE ARRIVING FASTER THAN EXPECTED, 16 PERCENT FOUND THE RESPONSE TOO SLOW, AND 52 PERCENT FOUND THE POLICE PERFORMING TO THEIR EXPECTATIONS. CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS STUDIES, EXPECTATIONS ABOUT RESPONSE TIME EXERT STRONG INFLUENCE ON EVALUATIONS OF POLICE. THE DEBRIEFING SURVEY OF VICTIMIZATION CASES YIELDED A 76 PERCENT SATISFACTION RATE WITH POLICE PERFORMANCE; 10 PERCENT WERE NEUTRAL, AND 12 PERCENT DISSATISFIED. CITIZEN SATISFACTION WAS FOUND TO BE INFLUENCED BY RESPONDENTS' AGE, SEX, AND RACE AS WELL AS ACTIONS OF POLICE OFFICERS DURING CONTACTS WITH CITIZENS. IMPLICATIONS OF THESE FINDINGS ARE THAT RESPONSE TIME AND CITIZEN PERCEPTIONS OF RESPONSE TIME ARE FACTORS WHICH POLICE AGENCIES CAN DIRECTLY INFLUENCE AS THEY ATTEMPT TO PROVIDE MORE SATISFACTORY SERVICES TO CITIZENS. TABULAR DATA AND FOOTNOTES ARE PROVIDED. (MRK)