Collected Working Papers, Phase 2, Portland Police Bureau/National Institute of Justice Community Policing Assessment Project

Portland State University is one of three agencies, along with the Portland Police Bureau and the University of Oregon, working on a project funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice, United States Department of Justice. The purpose of the grant is to develop and implement methods of measuring the performance of community policing. As the recipient of the grant, the Police Bureau has contracted with Portland State University, and also with the University of Oregon, to do some of the work for the grant. This PSU report of collected working papers was produced wider the contract between the Portland Police Bureau and Portland State University. This report presents the work of the PSU research team in taking the lead, during Phase 2 of the project, in identifying methods of performance measurement. We are now in the later part of Phase 2 of the project and approaching Phase 3, the phase involving actual implementation of measurement methods. The lead now shifts to the other two agencies involved, the University of Oregon and the Police Bureau. The PSU team has done its best to start the NIJ project off well, and we now look forward to seeing the University of Oregon and· the Police Bureau build upon our work. The University of Oregon has the responsibility to create a performance assessment plan and the Police Bureau has the responsibility to implement that plan. The PSU team will resume having a lead responsibility during Phase 4 of the project. During Phase 4, PSU will analyze the data that have been collected and computerized during Phase 3

Objective and subjective indicators: Effects of scale discordance on interrelationships

Researchers in the social indicator movement are increasingly aware of the value of obtaining both subjective and objective measures. At the same time there is a recognition of the need to understand relationships between the types of measures. Studies utilizing both subjective and objective measures indicate that while relationships between them exist, relationships are often not strong. This paper suggests several explanations for such imperfect relationships. One is scale discordance, a term used to recognize that the territorial base of an individual's subjective evaluation may not coincide with the boundaries of the unites used for the collection of objective data. Using data from a metropolitan area study, relationships between objective measures of crime and respondents' feelings of safety are examined for people whose perceptions of neighborhoods vary in size. The hypothesis that the relationship between the objective and subjective measures is stronger among individuals whose view of neighborhood size is in line with the relatively large territorial base for objective crime statistics is tested and found to be correct. Implications of the findings for research and policy making are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43701/1/11205_2004_Article_BF00364601.pd

Expectations, performance, and citizen satisfaction with urban services

The expectancy disconfirmation model has dominated private-sector research on customer satisfaction for several decades, yet it has not been applied to citizen satisfaction with urban services. The model views satisfaction judgments as determined-not just by product or service performance-but by a process in which consumers compare performance with their prior expectations. Using data from a New York City citizen survey, this study finds that citizen expectations, and especially the disconfirmation of expectations-factors that previously have not been considered in empirical studies of the determinants of citizen satisfaction-play a fundamental role in the formation of satisfaction judgments regarding the quality of urban services. Interestingly, the modeling results suggest that urban managers should seek to promote not only high-quality services, but also high expectations among citizens. Additional implications for research and public management practice are discussed. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Factors influencing support for local transportation sales tax measures

Sales tax measures passed at the local level and dedicated to transportation projects have become increasingly popular in the United States. While revenues from fuel taxes stagnate, growth of local transportation sales taxes (LTSTs), most approved in local elections, has led to a gradual shift of the financial base for transportation projects away from user fees and toward broader-based taxes. In this study, the relationship between voter support and the social, political, and geographic characteristics of the voters is explored. Using precinct-level voting data and census demographic data for three local transportation sales tax elections in Sonoma County, in the San Francisco Metropolitan area of California, regression models were constructed to analyze this relationship. In addition, the relationship between the outcomes of the three measures was explored to better understand which transportation projects might have garnered more support for the successful measure. It was found that the closer voters lived to the transportation projects to be funded, the greater their support. Higher incomes were also positively related to support, controlling for other variables. Political leanings were found to affect support, with the direction of the effect dependent upon the project list in each measure’s expenditure plan. Finally, it appears that the latest measure, which passed successfully, benefited greatly from its multi-modal expenditure plan. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007Transportation finance, Sales tax, Politics and transportation, Voting models,