Purpose

1
Purpose

• To determine if education would predict
  performance in the police academy
• Increasing number of departments are requiring
  degrees
• Adverse impact requires evidence of validity

2
Issues to Consider

• How education is measured
• Degree (yes, no)
• Years of school
• Type of degree (hs, aas, ba, ma)
• How academy performance is measured
• G.P.A.
• Graduated (yes, no)
• Supervisor ratings

3
Dependent Measures

• Academy grades
• FTO Performance
• Supervisor ratings of performance
• Commendations
• Absenteeism
• Injuries
• Complaints/discipline problems
• Vehicle accidents
• Activity

4
Literature Review

• 1970-2002
• Methods
• Electronic Sources
• PsychInfo
• InfoTrac
• WorldCat
• Lexis-Nexis
• Factiva
• Dissertation Abstracts
• Article Bibliographies
• Phone Calls
• Studies
• 156 were found
• 58 were useable

5
Studies to Include

• Must be empirical
• Must have the appropriate statistic to convert to
  an r or a d
• Must have complete set of information
• Must be accurate

6
Potential Moderators

• Length of Academy
• Size of department (small, med, large)
• Year of study
• Education level of the department
• Average age of officers in the department
• Location (city, suburb, rural)

7
Results
Education and Police Performance Education and Police Performance Education and Police Performance Education and Police Performance 95 CI 95 CI
Criteria K N r L U ? SE
Academy Grades 31 5,993 .27 .25 .30 .41 75
Supervisor Ratings 43 8,403 .18 .13 .23 .33 44
8
Academy Length as a Moderator
Education and Academy Performance Education and Academy Performance Education and Academy Performance Education and Academy Performance 95 CI 95 CI
Academy Length K N r L U ? SE
Short (lt20 weeks) 16 2,477 .31 .27 .35 .46 100
Long (gt 20 weeks) 14 3,313 .25 .22 .28 .38 100
9
Conclusions/Recommendations

• Cadets with degrees will perform better in the
  academy than will those without degrees
• This is especially true for academies running
  12-18 weeks
• These results can be generalized to other police
  academies