The present research investigates the productivity and performance of a large sample of police officers, beginning in the police academy and through their first 10 years of policing. Using longitudinal data and latent class growth analyses, we examine measures of productivity and performance over this time. Findings indicate that officers’ academy performance did not influence officer trajectories, but selected demographic variables were significantly related to performance across the career course. Among these, female and non-White officers were consistently rated lower in their performance evaluations. Overall, results suggest that factors predicting productivity and performance are dynamic, and there is no single combination of characteristics that predicts who will be a “good” officer.

本研究调查了从警察学院开始到警务开始的最初十年的大量警察的生产力和绩效。使用纵向数据和潜在类别增长分析，我们研究了这段时间内的生产率和绩效测度。调查结果表明，军官的学业成绩不会影响军官的学习轨迹，但所选的人口统计学变量与整个职业生涯的绩效显着相关。其中，女性和非白人官员的绩效评估始终被评为较低。总体而言，结果表明，预测生产率和绩效的因素是动态的，并且没有单一的特征组合可以预测谁将成为“好”官员。