DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09980.v1
title: Evaluation of the New York City Police Cadet Corps, 1986-1989
title: Version 1

description: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the Police Cadet Corps program in New York City had achieved its goal of improving the police force through additional training of applicants with higher education. The evaluation of the program was designed to answer questions such as (1) How was the program recruitment implemented, and with what success? (2) What were the role-related perceptions and attitudes of the cadets and how did they differ, if at all, among different types of cadets and from those of the members of the latest recruit class? (3) How, if at all, did the program experience affect the cadets' perceptions and attitudes? and (4) How did the attitudes and perceptions of cadets compare to non-cadet recruits with and without some college education in the same academy class? Four cohorts of cadets were asked to complete several different questionnaires throughout the course of the program, which culminated in graduation from the police academy. Two sets of non-cadet recruits from the academy were also included in the research. Major variables in the data collection detail reasons for entry into the police department, opinions regarding police, and perceptions and attitudes toward the police cadet program. Some questionnaires also provided information on demographic characteristics of the cadets (race, sex, marital status, military service and branch, highest level of education, family income, and year of birth). The unit of observation is the New York City police cadet.
description: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the Police Cadet Corps program in New York City had achieved its goal of improving the police force through additional training of applicants with higher education. The New York City Police Cadet Corps was established as an innovative recruitment program designed to attract college students into careers as police officers through a monetary incentive which included an interest-free loan and monies for work performed. The five major objectives for the program were to (1) increase the educational level of the department, (2) test a more rigorous selection process for recruits, (3) increase the representativeness of the uniformed force, (4) increase the orientation toward community policing, and (5) improve leadership skills of new officers. The Police Foundation conducted this study to evaluate how well the program was implemented during its initial stages and the extent to which, during that period, it achieved its goals. The evaluation of the program was designed to answer questions such as (1) How was the program recruitment implemented, and with what success? (2) What were the role-related perceptions and attitudes of the cadets and how did they differ, if at all, among different types of cadets and from those of the members of the latest recruit class? (3) How, if at all, did the program experience affect the cadets' perceptions and attitudes? and (4) How did the attitudes and perceptions of cadets compare to non-cadet recruits with and without some college education in the same academy class?
description: The New York City Police Cadet Corps Program began with a special enlistment campaign at colleges and universities in New York City. The program consisted of ten phases that cadets completed: (1) meet entrance criteria, (2) participate in the Summer Program during the summer after their sophomore year, (3) participate in an eight-week Community Patrol Office Program (Stage One) after a two-week training and orientation period, (4) receive training during their junior year consisting of part-time work in precinct assignments and special training, (5) participate in a ten-week Community Patrol Officer Program (Stage Two) between their junior and senior years, (6) receive training during their senior year, (7) pass the police entrance exam, (8) graduate from college, (9) be promoted to police officer, (10) graduate from the police academy. Beginning in the summer of 1986 and continuing through to the end of 1989, various survey instruments were administered to cadets upon their entry into the Police Cadet Corps program, after their first summer, at the end of the program, at their entry into the police academy, and at their exit from the academy. The study did not cover the academy entry and exit for the 1988 cohort, nor did the 1987B cohort complete a first summer survey. For comparison purposes, 1988 non-cadet recruits in the police academy were given surveys at their entry and exit from the academy in 1988. Only an entry survey was administered to the 1989 non-cadet recruits.
description: Questionnaires covered topics such as factors that led to respondents' joining of the cadets, family attitudes toward joining, future police career plans, previous jobs, number of hours and earnings in that job, and college financial assistance or aid. In addition, opinions of the cadets were solicited on a wide range of police-related activities and responsibilities, on the importance of factors that could be used as indicators of a "good" police officer, and on the amount of effort a police officer should spend on various activities. Cadets who had experienced police duty were queried on items such as the amount of time spent on different tasks, how useful they felt those assignments were, the usefulness of their police work experience, and their impression of the Community Patrol Officer Program. Also asked were questions on how the Community Patrol program had affected cadets' attitudes toward the Cadet Corps program and their possible police careers and future plans. The questionnaires also inquired about cadets' opinions on a variety of police cadet preparatory courses and instructors, and how they felt the required exercises affected their experience as police cadets.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several scales similar to Likert types were used in the survey instrument.
description: Response Rates: All cadets within the program were required to respond to the questionnaire.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 1 
 DS2: 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 2 
 DS3: 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 3 
 DS4: 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 4 
 DS5: 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 5 
 DS6: 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 1 
 DS7: 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 2 
 DS8: 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 3 
 DS9: 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 4 
 DS10: 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 5 
 DS11: 1987B Cadet Cohort, Wave 1 
 DS12: 1987B Cadet Cohort, Wave 2 
 DS13: 1987B Cadet Cohort, Wave 3 
 DS14: 1987B Cadet Cohort, Wave 4 
 DS15: 1988 Cadet Cohort, Wave 1 
 DS16: 1988 Cadet Cohort, Wave 2 
 DS17: 1988 Cadet Cohort, Wave 3 
 DS18: 1988 Recruits, Wave 1 
 DS19: 1988 Recruits, Wave 2 
 DS20: 1989 Recruits, Wave 1 
 DS22: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 1 Data 
 DS23: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 2 Data 
 DS24: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 3 Data 
 DS25: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 4 Data 
 DS26: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1986 Cadet Cohort, Wave 5 Data 
 DS27: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 1 Data 
 DS28: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 2 Data 
 DS29: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 3 Data 
 DS30: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 4 Data 
 DS31: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987A Cadet Cohort, Wave 5 Data 
 DS32: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987B Cadet Cohort, Wave 1 Data 
 DS33: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987B Cadet Cohort, Wave 2 Data 
 DS34: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987B Cadet Cohort, Wave 3 Data 
 DS35: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1987B Cadet Cohort, Wave 4 Data 
 DS36: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1988 Cadet Cohort, Wave 1 Data 
 DS37: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1988 Cadet Cohort, Wave 2 Data 
 DS38: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1988 Cadet Cohort, Wave 3 Data 
 DS39: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1988 Non-Cadet Recruits Wave 1 Data 
 DS40: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1988 Non-Cadet Recruits Wave 2 Data 
 DS41: SAS Data Definition Statements for 1989 Non-Cadet Recruits Wave 1 Data
description: Some numbers in Figure 1 of the codebook (i.e., cadets first hired) are different from the report filed with NIJ. There is a sharp drop from the number of surveys given at the beginning of the cadet program to those given at the end, or upon exit from the academy. Data for several groups (Parts 4 and 18, Parts 5 and 19, and Parts 10, 14, and 20) were combined into single files without complete directions on how to separate them. Splitting these files sometimes resulted in a different number than was given in Figure 1. Also, there are duplicate ID numbers in eight datasets (Parts 4, 6, 7, 10, 17, 18-20).
description: All New York City police cadets from 1986-1988.