Police Performance Appraisals

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.

Serdar Kenan Gul’s research interests include police management, performance appraisal, comparative criminal justice, and quantitative research methods. After working at different units of the Turkish National Police Organization as a ranking officer for almost 15 years, Dr. Gul is currently an associate professor and researcher at the Center for Security Management and a faculty member at the College of Security Sciences at Turkish National Police Academy. He teaches human resources management, public administration, and police management courses. He is also editor for the Turkish Journal of Police Studies, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Paul O’Connell has been a full-time member of the criminal justice faculty at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, since 1994. He began his professional career in criminal justice in 1981, serving the New York City Police Department (NYPD) first as a police officer, and then as a police academy instructor, in-service trainer, and curriculum developer. After receiving an MPA and JD, he worked as a trial attorney. He teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, conducts funded research, and lectures widely on the topics of police performance measurement, integrity management, and law enforcement training systems.