To effectively consult with the community, police managers should have a good
understanding of what the public thinks that the police currently do and what they would
prefer the police to do. Citizen satisfaction is jointly used with job satisfaction, job stress, the
possibility of burnout and work engagement within the police as a performance measure of
police-citizen encounters. The objectives of this study were to determine the expectations and
satisfaction of the community and the police as well as the congruence between the
community's expectations and the police's perceptions regarding policing in the Klerksdorp
area of the North West Province. A further objective was to determine if there were any
differences between Afrikaans-, English- and Tswana- speaking members of the community.
The relationship between job satisfaction, stress, burnout and engagement of police members
was also investigated.
A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population (N = 597) includes samples
of uniformed police personnel in the Klerksdorp area (n = 109), as well as a sample of the
community (n = 488). Two different measuring batteries were compiled, the one for
community members consisted mainly of the Public Attitude survey (PAS), and the one for
police members of the Public Attitude Survey (PAS), Job Satisfaction Survey (MSQ), Police
Stress Survey (PSS), Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS) and Utrecht
Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse
the data.
The results indicate that both the SAPS and the community perceive the present and preferred
priorities of the police to be the investigation of crime, with the exception that the public
expect the police to make the giving of advice a higher priority. Correlations were found
between police members' intrinsic job satisfaction, and extrinsic job satisfaction and
professional efficacy; police stressors and exhaustion; and between the dimensions of
engagement. It appears that the community experienced the SAPS as neat and respectful but
not really trustworthy. Accordingly, the police do not truly trust the community to co-operate
with them.
Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/256 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Marais, Carin |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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