Community Policing and Job Satisfaction: Suggestive Evidence of Positive Workforce Effects from a Multijurisdictional Comparison in Washington State

Abstract

The effects of the implementation of community oriented policing (COP) on police personnel job satisfaction remain a subject of considerable controversy. Although the dramatic changes associated with COP programs and the implementation of practices reflecting a COP philosophy commonly introduce uncertainty and insecurity in police agencies, a number of single-jurisdiction case studies of COP adoption have reported positive effects on police employee job satisfaction among officers engaged in COP activities. Using survey and archival data on job satisfaction among a cross-section of local government employees from 12 local government jurisdictions, this study finds evidence of positive effects on the mean job satisfaction levels for police officers attributable to the implementation of COP. It was found that: (a) police personnel in high COP implementation agencies report higher job satisfaction than police personnel in other agencies, and (b) the ubiquitous job satisfaction gap between police and nonpolice personnel in local governments is closed by the systematic adoption of COP.