NCJ Number
180343
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 27 Issue: 6 Dated: November /December 1999 Pages: 483-493
Editor(s)
Kent B. Joscelyn
Date Published
December 1999
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article explores classic and contemporary explanations for voluntary police turnover in one of the largest police departments in the Southeast, the Birmingham (Alabama) Police Department (BPD).
Abstract
The article specifically tests confluency theory and eight variables associated with job satisfaction as predictors of turnover among field operations officers. Confluency theory, an untested theory, attributes police turnover to an absence of pre-employment job awareness and to incongruities between job expectations and job realities. A survey of 232 current officers and 60 former officers disagreed with conventional wisdom and the majority of turnover research findings. Former BPD officers were generally more satisfied with their jobs in the BPD than current officers. Logistic regression further indicated that confluency theory and the job satisfaction variables investigated are poor predictors of field operations officers who leave the BPD. Tables, note, references