Police performance appraisal is among the essential components of law enforcement management. It affects the quality of services delivered to the citizens and satisfaction of police officers. It is thus necessary for the appraisal process to be carried out in an effective and equitable approach. Officers serve the country, made up of different people with varying backgrounds, ethnicity, gender, beliefs, religion, and practices. An appraisal is essential to determine how the officers handle different cases. It establishes the possible limitations such as language barriers, thus guiding the police department on the training programs that should be implemented to make police officers effective at their work (Agarwal et al., 2019). Performance checking helps determine the officers who require recognition, rewards, and to be considered for higher ranking. It is a motivation factor since officers work hard to gain public recognition and be considered for promotion, which is associated with a higher payment. Therefore, the process is beneficial to the officers, police department, and country at large.
During the assessment, there are specific elements that are looked at to establish how a particular officer is performing. The first one is inter-relationship between the officers at work. Policing is a teamwork, and officers are evaluated depending on how each party is contributing to the larger organization. Interaction with citizens and the views that citizens have concerning the officers. Interviews with citizens who have encountered officers directly or indirectly can help appraise specific officers. Time management such as the time when the officers start their duty, response to calls such as when there is an accident or break-in in a region is an evaluation factor. It can also be done depending on career development and training programs a specific officer has undertaken (Narine, 2019). Appraisal also determines how the gender of an officer affects the way they handle different situations in relation to citizens, such as abuse of power and knowledge of rights of the citizens, especially during the appraisal and applying them.
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Police performance appraisal is conducted through qualitative and quantitative methods. The officers undertake various tests, such as first aid, to determine their preparation as first responders. There are other practical tests related to helping people in a disaster, and such tests are used to rank officers on performance. Online questionnaires can be administered with the general public to help assess the entire department (Agarwal et al., 2019). Citizens will give reports about interactions with officers and how they displayed their skills and expertise. Such information can be used in determining ways of improving relationship between the public and the policing department, which has been deteriorating. Interviews with inmates on how specific officers handled them during the apprehension time can be used as an evaluation method. It will help determine whether officers use too much force or make aware the inmates of their rights before they were detained.
The policing department has lots of duties, the most critical being ensuring the security of the people. Therefore, the officers should be trained enough and equipped with enough knowledge on how to carry out their duties and deal with people from different backgrounds. The policing work can be discouraging, which requires the department to keep the officers motivated. The appraisal system will help establish factors that demotivate the officers, such as lack of enough equipment to assist in daily duties, thus affecting their performance. The evaluation results will also be the basis for making decisions such as training programs that should be implemented and compulsory for specific officers depending on their performance results (Narine, 2019). The results of the assessment will also be used for motivation purposes by publicly recognizing the outperforming officers and rewarding them. It will increase the morale of other officers to work hard and team with others to accomplish their duties of maintaining law and order and promoting national security.
References
Agarwal, P., Hunt, K., Zhuang, J., Sarkar, B., Sarkar, A., & Sharma, R. (2019). An exploratory analysis for performance assessment of state police forces in India: an eclectic approach. Operational Research , 1-27.
Narine, N. (2019). Police performance appraisals: a comparative perspective. Taylor & Francis Online.
