Keywords

police, education, college, performance, preparedness, officer

Abstract

The Turkish National Police converted its 9-month Police Training Schools to 2-year college degree programs in 2001 in their pursuit to improve the quality of police officers' job performance, police job preparedness levels, and the police service as a whole. The purpose of this study is to investigate the actual benefits of this higher education policy by empirically measuring and comparing the job preparedness and job performance of police officers with higher education and police officers without higher education. This study consists of two quantitative parts. The first part measured the job performance construct with multiple indicators, including performance evaluation scores, numbers of received official awards, and appreciation letters. The second part of the study measured the perception of officer's job preparedness levels through a self-report survey. The structural equation modeling technique was utilized to evaluate the latent constructs. A response rate of 55.5% was attained--500 out of 900. The study found that there were statistically significant positive relationships between police officers' level of education and job preparedness, as well as between police officers' level of education and job performance. Statistically significant relationships between jurisdiction sizes, assignment type, and perception of job performance with job performance and preparedness were also found. However, no significant relationships between gender, age, and marital status were identified with job performance and preparedness. Among the variables, education had the strongest influence on officers' job performance and preparedness. In addition, a negative relationship exists between officers' perception of self-performance ratings and observed job performance ratings, suggesting that officers that rated their job performance levels higher were actually the ones with lower observed job performance ratings. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on criminal justice and public policy not only in Turkey, but also internationally.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2008

Advisor

Martin, Lawrence

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Health and Public Affairs

Degree Program

Public Affairs

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0002237

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002237

Language

English

Release Date

September 2008

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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