Police performance appraisal is one of the most important components of law enforcement management affecting the quality of the services a department delivers as well as the satisfaction of its employees. Therefore, it is crucial that the performance appraisal process is conducted in an effective and equitable manner. Police Performance Appraisals:

These guidelines are intended to provide instruction and guidance to police managers and supervisors concerned with carrying out personnel appraisal responsibilities. Data used in developing the guidelines were gathered from a literature review covering performance appraisal, promotion, and placement functions as well as a survey of personnel procedures followed by over 200 police departments throughout the country. While the emphasis here is on the patrolman position and his promotion either to corporal or sergeant, or his transfer to a lateral position to investigations or technical support, the guidelines are applicable to other police positions. The three substantive areas covered in the guidelines include performance appraisal, promotion, and placement; each section contains information on existing technologies and practices and specific recommendations for procedural improvements. 7 figures and 14 references.

Police performance appraisal is one of the most important components of law enforcement management--affecting the quality of the services a department delivers as well as the satisfaction of its employees. Therefore, it is crucial that the performance appraisal process is conducted in an effective and equitable manner. Police Performance Appraisals: A Comparative Perspective employs the comparative case study approach to evaluate systems in police departments in two diverse locales--Ankara, Turkey and Toledo, Ohio. The study seeks to determine whether there are any common trends or obvious similarities that transcend national and cultural boundaries. From this information, best practices can be identified to improve the system of any police organization. The data from the survey raises a host of issues essential to police management. Are traditional or modern appraisal systems more preferable to police personnel? Are field and command officers' perceptions of the performance evaluation instruments in their departments similar or do they differ from those of their subordinates? Asking these and other critical questions, the authors also examine the relationship between the officer's perception of the appraisal system and his or her rank, taking into account level of education, gender, age, and years of service. Employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, this study yields important findings and valuable insights for police organizations as to which characteristics an appraisal process should have for the best quality system. Lessons learned from this study should provide guidance to future efforts to design better appraisal systems and may also contribute to heightened focus on nationwide assessments of evaluation practices and standards for police organizations.

This detailed and comprehensive book on performance evaluation will provide employers with a resource for developing and implementing a results-based approach to the evaluation of employee work performance. The goal of this book is to fill the gap that exists between what evaluation program designers have been offering in the way of evaluation systems for the last half of this century and what employers, employees and courts need and expect. To briefly describe the system, performance is defined as the objectively measurable result of having performed to standard. Employees are viewed as being highly capable and productive at the beginning of the rating cycle (Theory Y). Accordingly, they are given the best possible rating score attainable in the system - a zero. The zero signifies that they have no uncorrected performance deficiencies. Jobs are analyzed to determine the results that the performer is expected to accomplish. To ensure quality, these results are tracked and measured on a regular basis (e.g., monthly). As long as employees accomplish the expected results, they will maintain their zero evaluation scores (Z-score). Should an employeeÂ’s performance fail to meet standards, problem solving is initiated to determine the source of the problem and, if possible, to help the employee achieve standards. The intervention is documented and an improvement plan is developed. The time and costs associated with the improvement efforts are tracked. As long as employees are capable and willing to correct identified deficiencies, they are given the opportunity to do so without affecting their evaluation scores. Only when employees fail to correct their deficiencies are their evaluation scores affected. The investment costs in development efforts are totaled to form the employee's final evaluation score - the Z score. The lower this score, the better will be the final rating. It will be of primary use to the human resources professional in law enforcement with between 15,500 employees, and it will provide the necessary expertise in research and development that will save these individuals hundreds of hours in self-developing their own system from scratch. The book consists of eight chapters. The appendices contain model forms, instruments, and sample rating measures. Additionally, instructions for developing a template for generating rating scores and reports is included.

Historically, police agencies have measured their performance against a restricted set of crime-focused indicators, but modern police officers must be prepared to take on a wide variety of roles. Performance measures should be multidimensional to capture this complexity. This report describes some key considerations in designing measures to evaluate law enforcement agencies and includes a detailed review of some international best practices.