Police officer salaries and agency performance outputs

ISSN： 1478-601X

Source： Criminal Justice Studies, Vol.25, Iss.2, 2012-06, pp. : 191-203

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Abstract

Spending on law enforcement services, including police officer salaries, is an important public policy issue. What is unclear is whether raising officer salaries results in an increase in the services police officer provide. This pilot test involves a partial, macro-level test to determine if, after controlling for community contextual values, higher officer salaries are associated with law enforcement agency outputs. Using a sample of 384 municipal law enforcement agencies, these analyses utilized agency Part I crime clearance rates, Part II crime arrest rates, and departmental lawsuits as quantity and quality measures of agency work outputs. The findings revealed that, after controlling for relevant community characteristics, officer mean salaries had no significant influence on agency work outputs. Policy implications for police administrators, police union leaders, and local government leaders are discussed.