Urban police performance attitudes: Fid-Bau Portal

Urban police performance attitudes

Stevens, John M. / McDavid, James C.

Abstract Research on police performance has focused upon citizen's attitudes and evaluations of police or analysis of police documents and records; however, there has been little emphasis on police attitudes toward their own performance. The purpose of this study is to examine what factors, especially perceived citizen input, influence urban police performance attitudes. One related objective is to supplement ongoing research and attempt to contribute an empirical perspective to the expanding literature on police performance assessment. In addition to specific findings relating productivity and perceived citizen ratings to performance, the study also examines the moderating effect of perceived citizen ratings on police self ratings. The results of the study support many traditional assumptions about the police role. However, they also show the influence of internal factors such as training and external influences such as perceived citizen evaluations of police performance. The findings illustrate that police performance has to be assessed from a multi-variate perspective by management to include citizen ratings and internal factors.