As a student of sociology and an 18 year police officer, my personal observation has been that there exists a large turnover rate among individuals working within the law enforcement profession. Cost associated with selection and training of law enforcement personnel are high and currently utilized selection procedures appear ineffective in identifying those individuals likely to become "successful" law enforcement officers. Believing motivation, through social science research, can be both identified and measured, this then becomes a potential selection and performance indicator. This study has defined and selected three groups from within the law enforcement community. By various methodological approaches, each group has been surveyed to determine motivators which influenced the career selection by individual group members. This data has then beencompared and analyzed in light of both existing literature and currently utilized law enforcement selection processes. The goals of this effort are straightforward. First, this study addresses a long time professional interest in motivations of law enforcement officers. Second, the work is intended to fulfill partial masters degree requirements at Oklahoma State University. Last, and possibly most important, the project will hopefully identify those personal motivators attracting individuals to the law enforcement profession and suggesting either an instrument or method with which to address concerns within the law enforcement selection process. Data collected for this project was origionally collected in 1991 by the author as a government employee seeking alternative law enforcement selection processes. There has been no outside funding in association with this project other than contributed by the author. Those organizations surveyed are government law enforcement agencies and as such, no attempt has been made to disguise their identity. Individuals surveyed, have not been identified, and every effort has been taken to guard their anonymity.Correction
