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Measuring Officer Performance
New approaches for evaluating police officer knowledge and performance are required under the community policing and problem-solving approach. Traditional measurements of officer performance— for example, numbers of citations issued, arrests made, calls for service handled, and other such outputs—are not appropriate under this problem-oriented strategy that focuses on addressing neighborhood crime and disorder. Furthermore, agencies need to know if their officers possess the proper skills, are looking for underlying causes of crime, and are applying appropriate responses to crime and disorder issues. An effective performance measurement system is characterized by three fundamental purposes: (1) It conveys the organization’s philosophy; (2) It sets forth performance expectations; and (3) It facilitates the attainment of results. From a practical perspective, the fundamental goal of any measurement system is to develop an individual’s capacity to perform and then determine if the effects of one’s performance meets expectations. This entry describes the significant characteristics of such systems while simultaneously recognizing variances exist among different police agencies upon implementation.
Expectations and Assumptions
Inherent within any discussion regarding one’s performance is clarifying what is meant by the phrase measurement system. For the purpose of this entry, a measurement system encompasses a series of interrelated processes that begins with assessing one’s developmental progress and ends with documenting results in terms of linking outputs and outcomes to goals and objectives. Police executives make a substantial investment to ensure their employees are properly developed so that the organization can perform as the citizenry expects. Measuring officers’ performance can help them determine the status of their employees’ development and whether their investment has yielded expected returns.
The development of police officers begins with soliciting qualified applicants, requiring them to successfully complete a recruit training program, and mandating the successful completion of a field training program. At this point, management typically deems each person worthy of full-time employment as a police officer. The new officer, then, is given various job assignments to begin gaining experience.
Typically, this means a younger (in terms of tenure) officer is assigned to patrol and rides with a partner. Some agencies require young officers to participate in a structured mentoring program as a way of easing individuals into the rigors of police work before allowing them to ride solo. Irrespective of how young officers begin their experiences, there is one unilateral constant in almost all police agencies—the need to periodically assess how well an officer is performing.
Expectations
The framework governing the design and administration of a measurement system must be consistent with specific managerial expectations. Officers come to understand these expectations by virtue of operational implications associated with the types of criteria used to account for their performance, processes used to assess and measure that performance, and the measurement of specific types of outputs and outcomes. These expectations set the tone for guiding the development of officers over time. For example, do the elements of the measurement system convey to police officers
- What aspects of their work management deems most important?
- How they are expected to behave?
- The importance of attaining consensus about the nature of their work?
- How they are expected to use their duty time?
- The significance of producing results in accordance with specific goals and objectives?
- Management’s sensitivity to their job satisfaction?
- The need to be aware of citizens’ perceptions about police services?
These expectations (and others) provide officers with an understanding of important elements and nuances associated with their specific job assignments. Furthermore, as police work continues to become increasingly complex and specialized, police managers must recognize the unique demands certain job assignments place on officers. Successful performance in one job assignment does not necessarily translate to successful performance in another. As officers gravitate from one job assignment to another, it may take time for them to understand the full scope of management’s expectations; thus, it is extremely important that management take time to measure what matters for every available job assignment.
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- Changing Agency Culture
- Agency Mission and Values, Changes in
- Community Policing, Discretionary Authority Under
- Community Policing: Resources, Time, and Finances in Support of
- Customer-Based Policing
- Decentralizing the Organization/Organizational Change
- Implementation of Community Policing
- Involving Local Businesses
- Learning Organization
- Measuring Officer Performance
- Officers’ Job Satisfaction
- Publicity Campaigns
- Recruiting for Quality and Diversity
- Roles, Chief Executives’
- Roles, First-Line Supervisors’
- Roles, Middle Managers’
- Roles, Officers’
- Strategic Planning
- Crime Analysis: Technologies and Techniques
- Evaluation and Assessment
- Foundations: Evolution of Community Policing and Problem Solving
- Broken Windows Theory
- Building Partnerships and Stakeholders
- Citizen Patrols
- Collaboration With Outside Agencies
- Community Cohesion and Empowerment
- Community Justice
- Community Policing and Problem Solving, Definition of
- Community Policing, Evolution of
- Community Policing: What It Is Not
- Community Prosecution
- Community, Definition of
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
- Directed Patrol, Studies of
- Evidence-Based Policing
- Fear of Crime
- Flint, Michigan, Experiment
- Foot Patrols
- Generations (Three) of Community Policing
- Intelligence-Led Policing
- International Community Policing
- Investigations, Community Policing Strategies for
- Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment
- Metropolitan Police Act of 1829
- Place-Based Policing
- Police Mission
- Police-Community Relations
- Policing, Three Eras of
- Predictive Policing
- Problem-Oriented Policing, Goldstein’s Development of
- Problem-Oriented Policing: Elements, Processes, Implications
- Problem-Solving Courts
- Problem-Solving Process (SARA)
- Problem, Definition of
- Restorative Justice
- Situational Crime Prevention
- Social Capital
- Team Policing
- Volunteers, Police Use of
- Wickersham Commission
- Future Considerations
- Public Safety Issues
- Supporting Legislation and National Organizations
- Center for Problem-Oriented Policing
- Community Oriented Policing Services, Office of
- Community Policing Consortium
- Executive Sessions on Policing
- Homeland Security
- National Center for Community Policing
- National Crime Prevention Council
- Neighborhood Associations
- Operation Weed and Seed
- Police Foundation
- Regional Community Policing Institutes
- Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
- Training and Curriculum
- “What Works”—Selected Strategies and Initiatives
- Colleges and Universities, Community Policing Strategies for
- Domestic Violence, Community Policing Strategies for
- Drug Crimes, Community Policing Strategies for
- Elderly Victimization, Community Policing Strategies for
- Gang Crimes, Community Policing Strategies for
- Immigrant Populations, Community Policing Strategies for
- Immigration: Issues, Law, and Police Training
- Public Housing, Community Policing Strategies for
- Repeat Victimization, Community Policing Strategies for
- Rural Areas, Community Policing in
- School Violence and Safety, Community Policing Strategies for
- State Police/Patrol, Community Policing Strategies for
- Traffic Problems, Community Policing Strategies for
- Youthful Offenders, Community Policing Strategies for
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