Police Performance: A Model for Assessing Citizens' Satisfaction and the Importance of Police Attributes
Department
Sociology and Criminal Justice
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2001
Abstract
This study examined the attitudes of 581 residents of Midland and Odessa, Texas regarding their satisfaction with 14 police attributes and the importance of these attributes. Descriptive findings showed the citizens are generally satisfied with police performance but still rated the importance of attributes higher than the satisfaction. The satisfaction-importance graph revealed that the professional conduct factor (professional knowledge, professional conduct, honesty, quality of service, and fairness) received relatively higher satisfaction and importance scores compared to the friendliness factor (friendliness, putting one at ease, concern, politeness, and helpfulness) and the crime control/prevention factor (level of police protection, investigative skill, ability to fight crime, and ability to prevent crime). The friendliness factor received relatively moderate satisfaction scores as did the crime control/prevention factor but was considered the least important among the three factors. Finally, the findings showed the attribute that needs the most improvement is the ability to prevent crime.
Journal Title
Police Quarterly
Journal ISSN
1098-6111
Volume
4
Issue
4
First Page
449
Last Page
468
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1177/109861101129197941