Calling the Police: The Evaluation of Police Service

In the rapidly expanding literature on the police, one question has been treated with increasing frequency in the past few years: How can the police be encouraged to become more responsive to the publics they serve? Many writers contend that in order for change to take place, it will be necessary to alter those conditions which affect the type of individual who becomes a policeman, either by modifying recruitment procedures, the training process, or the schedule of compensation (President's Commission, 1967a: 20). Others have questioned whether such strategies will work unless they are accompanied by basic social and organizational changes, redefining the role of the police officer and his relationship to the community (President's Commission, 1967a: 149).