DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03283.v1
title: National Survey of Investigations in the Community Policing Context, 1997
title: Version 1

description: This survey collected descriptive information from
municipal police departments and sheriffs offices across the United
States to determine whether the departments had implemented community
policing, how their investigative functions were organized, and the
ways in which their investigative organizational structure may have
been modified to accommodate a community policing approach. The
research project involved a national mail survey of municipal police
departments and sheriffs offices in all jurisdictions with populations
of more than 50,000 and 100 or more sworn officers. The survey was
mailed in the late fall of 1997. Data contain responses from 405
municipal departments and 196 sheriffs offices. Questionnaires were
similar but were modified depending on whether they were sent to
municipal or sheriffs agencies. Data generated by the questionnaires
provide descriptive information about the agencies, including agency
type, state, size of population served, number of full-time and
part-time sworn and civilian personnel, number of auxiliary and rescue
personnel, number of detectives, whether the sworn personnel were
represented by a bargaining unit, and if the agency was
accredited. Respondents reported whether community policing had been
implemented and, if so, identified various features that described
community policing as it was structured in their agency, including
year implementation began, number of sworn personnel with assignments
that included community policing activities, and if someone was
specifically responsible for overseeing community policing activities
or implementation. Also elicited was information about the
organization of the investigative function, including number of sworn
personnel assigned specifically to the investigative/detective
function, the organizational structure of this function, location and
assignment of investigators or the investigative function,
specialization of detectives/investigators, their pay scale compared
to patrol officers, their relationship with patrol officers, and their
chain-of-command. Finally, respondents reported whether the
investigative structure or function had been modified to accommodate a
community policing approach, and if so, the year the changes were
first implemented.
description: Questions about the nature and structure of the
 investigative function constitute a central concern for administrators
 who are implementing community policing. The concerns are both
 substantive and political. Substantive questions address what the
 investigative function should encompass, who should perform it, and
 its relationship to citizens and other police personnel. Political
 questions pertain to redefining the roles for detectives and other
 personnel who may be involved in the investigative
 process. Additionally, literature on criminal investigations has
 largely consisted of studies regarding the effectiveness of
 investigations, with little literature exploring the relationship
 between community policing and investigations and issues facing police
 agencies as they address the role of the investigator in community
 policing. In considering the larger question of what the investigative
 function should be in a community policing context, the researchers
 addressed the issue that the primarily reactive investigative function
 supports only one element of community policing and explored what the
 investigative function would look like if designed to support the full
 range of community policing efforts. Specifically, this project
 considered three main questions to fill the gap in knowledge about
 community policing implementation: (1) How are community policing
 agencies in the United States structuring the investigative function?
 (2) How are they integrating the investigative function with other
 police services? and (3) How have they managed/are they managing the
change process within this function?
description: This research project involved a national mail
 survey of municipal police departments and sheriffs offices in all
 jurisdictions with populations of more than 50,000 and 100 or more
 sworn officers. The survey was mailed in the late fall of 1997. Data
 contain responses from 405 municipal departments and 196 sheriffs
 offices. The survey collected descriptive information about whether
 the departments had implemented community policing, the organization
 of their investigative function, and the ways in which the
 investigative organizational structure or function may have been
 modified to accommodate a community policing approach. The survey was
 accompanied by a letter from the executive director of the Police
 Executive Research Forum (PERF). One month after the first mailing, a
 second copy of the questionnaire was sent to non-responding agencies,
 along with another letter from PERF's executive director, again
requesting participation.
description: The questionnaires were similar but were modified
 depending on whether they were sent to municipal or sheriffs
 agencies. Data generated by the questionnaires provide descriptive
 information about the agencies, including agency type, state, size of
 population served, number of full-time and part-time sworn and
 civilian personnel, number of auxiliary and rescue personnel, number
 of detectives, whether the sworn personnel were represented by a
 bargaining unit, and if the agency was accredited. Respondents
 reported whether community policing had been implemented and, if so,
 identified various features that described community policing as it
 was structured in their agency, including year implementation began,
 number of sworn personnel with assignments that included community
 policing activities, and if someone was specifically responsible for
 overseeing community policing activities or implementation. Also
 elicited was information about the organization of the investigative
 function, including number of sworn personnel assigned specifically to
 the investigative/detective function, the organizational structure of
 this function, location (physically centralized or decentralized) and
 assignment (within specific geographic area and/or crime types) of
 investigators or the investigative function, specialization of
 detectives/investigators, their pay scale compared to patrol officers,
 their relationship with patrol officers, and their
 chain-of-command. Finally, respondents reported whether the
 investigative structure or function had been modified to accommodate a
 community policing approach, and if so, the year the changes were
first implemented.
description: Response Rates: The response rate for municipal departments was
 83.9 percent. The response rate for sheriffs offices was 64.6
percent.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: Municipal police departments and sheriffs offices serving
 jurisdictions in the United States with populations of more than
50,000 and having 100 or more sworn officers
description: Datasets: 
DS1: National Survey of Investigations in the Community Policing Context, 1997
description: All municipal police departments and sheriffs offices in
the United States serving jurisdictions with populations greater than
50,000 and with 100 or more sworn officers in 1997.