Date of Award

Spring 5-2006

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Administration of Justice

Committee Chair

Stephen Mallory

Committee Member 2

Robert Thompson

Committee Member 3

Lisa Nored

Committee Member 4

Robert Moore Jr.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the opinions of police officers in regards to satisfaction with ethics training. The participants in this study were police officers in city/municipal and county law enforcement agencies. Ethics training is very important in the field o f law enforcement because of the many temptations that officers face and the tremendous amount of authority that society gives to the police. In order to investigate officer’s satisfaction with ethics training, the Ethics Training Questionnaire (ETQ) was developed. This questionnaire contained two parts. The first part was completed by police administrators, and the second part was completed by all research participants. The questionnaire contained demographic questions, Likert scale questions designed to solicit information on satisfaction with ethics training, and several open-ended questions. Studying satisfaction with ethics training is important because knowing the effects that ethics training has on police officers can provide tremendous insight into the value of the ethics training that officers receive. If officers are not satisfied with the ethics training, administrations can modify ethics training curriculum to suit the needs of their officers. By ensuring satisfaction with ethics training, it is hoped that police misconduct will decrease which can reduce the detrimental effects of ethics training on police officers, departments, and the community. In order to assess the overall satisfaction of ethics training among law enforcement personnel, a one-sample t-test was utilized. The results of this t-test indicated that officers are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the ethics training that they received, t(20) = .856, p = .402. Results also indicated that most of the research questions involving position, officers’ opinions, and perceptions were not affected. The only significant relationship that was found based on position was between position and officer’s opinions on the type of ethical problem that exists within their department, t(147) = -2.006, p = .05. In terms of states, there were two significant relationships that were found. The state in which the department resided impacted satisfaction with ethics within the police department, F(3, 146) = 3.863, p = .011. Also, the state in which the department resided an impact on the perceptions of ethical misconduct within the police departments, F(3, 146) = 4.451, p = .005.

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