Police administrations' perception of effectiveness of degree and nondegree-holding subordinates.

摘要

Police officers have the authority to enforce the law and make split-second determinations whether or not applicable law should deny a person's freedom. Therefore, officers should possess the characteristics and ability to carry out responsibilities entrusted to the police position. An analysis of existing research suggests police officers who obtain a college degree are able to more effectively manage the requirements of the police position than their nondegree-holding counterparts. Previous studies focusing on perceptions of police effectiveness are greatly outdated and only measure the perceptions of line level officers and general police personnel rather than supervising officers. In an effort to overcome the aforementioned limitations, the research study examined police supervisors' perceptions on the value and impact of a college degree for police effectiveness. The research study utilized survey data collected from 150 police supervisors, with and without college degrees, from a medium-sized southwest Georgia police department. The data was collected utilizing a multifaceted instrument developed by Canadian researchers, Curt Griffiths and Chris Murphy, as presented in Scott, Evans, and Vermas's (2009) research. Each measure was based upon a 5-item Likert scale. Recommendations for future practice and policy related efforts were presented and discussed.