Multiwave Establishment Surveys of Police Organizations

• Author: Edward R. Maguire
• Date: 01 December 2002
• Published date: 01 December 2002
• DOI: 10.3818/JRP.4.1.2002.39
• Subject Matter: Article

Multiwave establishment Surveys of police organizations • 39

*Multiwave Establishment Surveys

of Police Organizations

Edward R. Maguire

George Mason University

JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY, Vol. 4, Special Issue, Fall 2002

© 2002 Justice Research and Statistics Association

This article is based on a paper prepared for the National Research Council, Division of

Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Committee on Law and Justice, Meeting

of the Committee to Review Research on Police Policy and Practices, Washington, DC,

April 11, 2002. The author would like to thank Nicholas Lovrich for his helpful com-

ments on the manuscript.

*Abstract

This article discusses the use of multiwave establishment surveys of American police

organizations. It presents a definition and brief history of this set of methodologies,

then discusses some of the well-known surveys within this genre. The essential ele-

ments of each survey are described, including sponsorship, sampling, methods of

administration, item content, and contribution to knowledge about policing. The

article concludes with some general impressions about these surveys, some of the

useful lessons that might be learned from their use, and some suggestions for how

they might be used to expand the present body of knowledge about policing.

40 • Justice Research and Policy

Surveys in which organizations are the unit of analysis (not the individuals within

them) are known as “establishment” or “organizational” surveys (Dillman, 2002;

Knoke, Marsden, & Kalleberg, 2002). Establishment surveys of police organiza-

tions are fairly common. A brief search of publications listed in the National Crimi-

nal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) over the past 27 months (January 1, 2000, to

April 1, 2002) revealed at least 10 separate establishment surveys of police organi-

zations conducted on a wide variety of topics. Table 1 contains a listing of these

surveys. It illustrates the diversity of topics that can be examined in such surveys.1

1 I have included NCJRS numbers rather than complete citations for each study. Cita-

tions for all studies are available in a searchable database, including NCJRS numbers, at

http://www.ncjrs.org.

*Table 1

Topics of Publications Listed in the NCJRS Database (from 1/1/2000 to

4/1/2002) That Used Data From Establishment Surveys of Police Agencies

aFinal sample size excluding nonrespondents: based on the number of agencies that com-

pleted and returned a useable survey.

bI am grateful to Donald P. Haider-Markel at the University of Kansas for providing

response rate information on this study.

c Initial sample size including nonrespondents: based on the number of agencies to whom

surveys were sent or administered.

dA meaningful response rate cannot be calculated since this article relied on multiple data

sets with different response rates.

eI am grateful to Professor Steven Chermak of Indiana University at Bloomington for

providing response rate information on this study.

fUnknown.

gI am grateful to Laura Nichols at the International Association of Chiefs of Police for

providing response rate information on this study.

Description Sample Size Response Rate NCJRS #

Approaches to crime reduction 43a100.0% 186755

Citizen police academies 128a 86.0 188452

Hate crime policies 152a 60.8b190199

Law Enforcement 3,319a 97.8 184481

Management and

Administrative Statistics, 1999

Measuring police innovation 431c ___d185735

Relationships between police

and news media 203a 84.9e188563

Traffic stop data collection policies 49 100.0 191158

Training needs of SWAT teams 64c ___f186387

Use of psychological profiles 46a 48.4 192002

Use of CCTV or video cameras 207a 21.0g193283