Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education

Advisor

Steven A. Hecht

Committee Member

Susan Craig

Committee Member

Marcello Castro

Keywords

crime analysis, crime reduction model, employee perception, organizational behavior, organizational change, stratified model

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure employee perceptions of satisfaction as they relate to specific work processes and products within the Stratified Model. The Stratified Model is a crime-reduction model that was developed and gradually implemented first within the Port St. Lucie Police Department between 2004-2011. The full implementation of this crime-reduction model occurred in 2012. The Port St. Lucie Police department has since achieved greater reductions of the overall crime rate than other cities in Florida consisting of similar populations. In 2019, Port St. Lucie had the 7th largest population in Florida.

Currently, it is unknown how organizational employees of the Port St. Lucie Police Department perceive their individual and combined contributions within the overall approach of the Stratified Model. Employees at all levels of the organization will have an opportunity to rate specific internal mechanisms within this crime reduction model. These perceptions may lead to future opportunities for improving the Stratified Model.

There is a gap in the available literature that addresses how workers of a police organization perceive the crime reduction model’s specific internal work processes that influence organizational goals and the accompanying results.

To address this gap in the literature, research questions were developed related to what the average opinions of employees with respect to actions are (i.e., processes) that are involved in producing specific outcomes (i.e., products) of the organizations, what are the average opinions of employees with respect to the quality of outcomes produced by the organization, and what are the average opinions of each type of employee with respect to the processes and products of the organization.

The results suggested that employees were generally satisfied with both the products and processes of internal procedures. However, when results were considered for different types of employees, it was found that ratings for the command staff level of the organization were significantly lower in the areas of communication, dissemination of information, and use of intelligence. Recommendations were made to address these areas of concern.

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