Evaluating Police Management Development Programs

Designed to meet the growing demand for evaluation material, this volume fills a major gap in criminal justice literature. It details the first comprehensive, broad based, and theoretically grounded model for evaluating police management training programs. In a clear and concise style it develops a complete set of instruments for evaluation and then illustrates use of the model and the instruments on a specific program. Byron Simerson and William Markham have included all of the instruments needed to conduct a comprehensive evaluation and the instructions for their use. Alleviating the problem of haphazard evaluation, this volume was designed for police chiefs and training directors in larger jurisdictions, state criminal justice academies, the Training and Standards Divisions of State Departments of Justice, and state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Administrators are now recognizing the importance of determining training program efficiency, particularly in light of the growing concerns over legal liability. Evaluating Police Management Development Programs provides the tools and expertise needed to conduct a comprehensive program evaluation. Chapters provide: an overview of existing literature, model description, research procedures, model application to a specific police executive development program, reaction by North Carolina police chiefs, and a description of how the model can be applied to any police management development program. Appendices provide all instruments including precourse surveys, observation evaluation forms, course critiques, follow up surveys and chiefs’ evaluation surveys.