Attrition of police officers as predicted by peer evaluations during academy training

Developments in law enforcement have resulted in the need for early identification of individuals who may not succeed in the police field. Peers have the potential to provide reliable information on a fellow recruit's interpersonal skills, professionalism, and personality traits that can predic...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Meiera, Adrienne M. (Author)
Contributors: Arentsenb, Timothy J. (Other) ; Pannellc, Luann (Other) ; Putman, Katharine M. (Other)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
In: Policing and society
Year: 2018, Volume: 28, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-26
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Peer evaluations
Attrition
Predicting performance
Police Training
Description
Summary:Developments in law enforcement have resulted in the need for early identification of individuals who may not succeed in the police field. Peers have the potential to provide reliable information on a fellow recruit's interpersonal skills, professionalism, and personality traits that can predict future behaviours. Police recruits (n = 1248) nominated three peers who were top in their class and three who needed the most improvement during the 7th and 16th week of a 24-week basic police training academy. Analyses indicated that negative peer evaluations predicted attrition during a one-year probationary period after graduation from the academy even when statistically controlling for performance on the final academy exam. Using a cut-off score of four cumulative negative peer evaluations across both time points, recruits who dropped out or were terminated during probation could be determined with 91.7% specificity and 20.2% sensitivity. As such, negative peer evaluations have the potential to correctly identify recruits who have minimal potential of succeeding in police work. Overall, peer evaluations can serve as an important tool in police academies by evaluating and predicting future performance of police recruits in the field.
ISSN:1477-2728
DOI:0.1080/10439463.2015.1128904