Research indicates that the interpretability of typical survey research on police is severely
limited by the generality of questions asked the respondents. This article argues that
focusing survey research on police-citizen encounters and specifying the role of the
respondent and the nature of the problem in the encounter will provide more comprehensive and interpretable evaluations of police performance.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, D.N. (1978) "The Citizen Debriefing Form." Police Services Study Methods Report MR-4. Bloomington, IN: Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.
2.
Antunes, G. and E. Ostrom (1979) "Situational, personal, and behavioral determinants of citizen satisfaction in specific encounters with police: An initial analysis ." Presented at the meeting of the Western Political Science Association.
3.
Bittner, E. (1974) "Florence Nightingale in pursuit of Willie Sutton: A theory of the police," pp. 17-44 in H. Jacob (ed.) The Potential for Reform of Criminal Justice. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
4.
Bloch, P.B. and D. Anderson (1974) Policewomen on Patrol: Final Report. Washington, DC: Police Foundation.
5.
Block, R. and C.R. Block (1980) Decisions and Data: The Transformation of Robbery Incidents into Official Robbery Statistics. Chicago: Illinois Law Enforcement Commission, Statistical Analysis Center .
6.
Bordua, D.J. and L.L. Tifft (1971) "Citizen interviews, organizational feedback, and police-community relations decisions." Law and Society Rev.6 (November): 155-182.
7.
Bush, M. and A.C. Gordon (1978) "The advantages of client involvement in evaluation research," pp. 767-783 in T.D. Cook (ed.) Evaluation Studies Review Annual. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
8.
Caldwell, E. (1978) "Patrol observation: The patrol encounter, patrol narrative, and general shift information forms." Police Services Study Methods Report MR-2 Bloomington, IN: Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.
9.
Goldstein, H. (1979) "Improving policing: A problem-oriented approach ." Crime and Delinquency (April) 236-258.
10.
Greenwood, P.W., J.M. Chaiken, J. Petersilia, and L. Prusoff (1975) The Criminal Investigation Process (Volume 3): Observations and Analysis. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
11.
Gutek, B.A. (1978) "Strategies for studying client satisfaction." J. of Social Issues34(4): 44-56.
12.
Kelling, G.L., T. Pate, D. Dieckman, and C.E. Brown (1974) The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment: A Technical Report. Washington, DC: Police Foundation.
13.
Maxfield, M.G. (1979) Discretion and the Delivery of Police Services: Demand, Client Characteristics, and Street-Level Bureaucrats in Two Cities . Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University.
14.
Nelson, B.J. (1980) "Client perceptions of officialdom: Assessing citizen encounters with social programs." Presented at the Symposium, The Public Encounter: Delivering Human Services in the 1980s . Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , Blacksburg, January 9-11.
15.
Piliavin, I. and S. Briar (1964) "Police encounters with juveniles," Amer. J. of Sociology70: 206-214.
16.
Poister, T.H. and J.C. McDavid (1978) "Victims' evaluations of police performance." J. of Criminal Justice6: 133-149.
17.
Reiss, A.J., Jr. (1971) The Police and the Public. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
18.
——— (1967) Studies in Crime and Law Enforcement in Major Metropolitan Areas (Vol. 1). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
19.
Schwartz, A.I. and S.N. Clarren (1978) The Cincinnati Team Policing Experiment : A Technical Report. Washington, DC: Police Foundation .
20.
Stipak, B. (1980) "Using clients to evaluate programs." Presented at the Symposium, The Public Encounter: Delivering Human Services in the 1980s. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, January 9-11.
21.
Van Maanen, J. (1978) "The asshole," pp. 221-238 in P.K. Manning and J. Van Maanen (eds.) Policing: A View from the Street. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear.
22.
Whitaker, G.P. (1979) "The police services study problem type codes." Police Services Study Methods Report MR-20. Bloomington, IN: Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.
23.
White, M.F. and B.A. Menke (1978) "A critical analysis of surveys on public opinions toward police agencies." J. of Police Sci. and Administration6: 204-218.
24.
Wilson, J.Q. (1975) Varieties of Police Behavior. New York: Atheneum.
