ABSTRACT

Police departments regularly conduct public opinion surveys to measure attitudes towards the police. The results of these surveys can be used to shape and evaluate policing policy and practice. Yet the extant evidence base is hampered when people use different methods and when there is no common data standard. In this paper we present a set of 13 core national indicators that can be used by police services across Canada to ensure measurement quality and draw proper comparisons between regions and over time. Having identified a set of 50 survey questions through an expert consultation process, we field those items on a quota sample of 2527 Canadians. Our analysis of the survey data has three stages. First, we use confirmatory factor analysis to assess scale properties. Second, we use substitution analysis to identify 13 single indicators that ‘best stand in’ for each scale. Third, we use the set of 50 and the sub-set of 13 measures to test procedural justice theory for the first time in the Canadian context. Overall, those commissioning and managing public attitudes surveys can use the 13 core indicators as a conceptually-rich and empirically-validated tool through which to understand local survey data in the context of other municipal, provincial, territorial and national contexts.

摘要

警察部门定期进行民意调查，以衡量对警察的态度。这些调查的结果可用于制定和评估警务政策和实践。但是，当人们使用不同的方法并且没有通用的数据标准时，现有的证据基础就会受到阻碍。在本文中，我们提出了一套13个核心国家指标，供加拿大各地的警察部门使用，以确保测量质量并随时间推移在各地区之间进行适当的比较。通过专家咨询过程确定了50个调查问题后，我们将这些项目放在2527名加拿大人的配额样本中。我们对调查数据的分析分为三个阶段。首先，我们使用验证性因子分析来评估量表属性。第二，我们使用替代分析来确定13个单一指标，这些指标对于每个量表都是“最佳代表”。第三，我们在加拿大的情况下，首次使用了50套措施和13套措施的子集来检验程序正义理论。总体而言，那些委托和管理公众态度调查的人可以将13个核心指标用作概念上丰富且经过实证验证的工具，通过该工具可以在其他市，省，地区和国家背景下了解本地调查数据。