Alachua County Sheriff's Office Research Partnership with the University of Florida

• NCJ Number: 182520
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 125 pages
• Grant Number(s): 96-IJ-CX-0087
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)

Annotation

Six sheriff’s offices in North Central Florida and the University of Florida are partners in a National Institute of Justice grant designed to enhance research skills among the partners as they relate to community policing, to develop a program to improve deputies’ communication skills, and to enhance the project to ensure its future.

Abstract

The six sheriff’s offices are located in Alachua, Gilchrist, Columbia, Putnam, Levy, and Union counties. Most of these counties are small and rural and may lack the analytical research skills for examining their community law enforcement and other programs. The Florida Survey Research Center (FSRC) provides the data collection and analysis skills for the project. The grant’s first component is a series of six presentations/workshops provided by FSRC for the partners. Topics include approaches to research, policy analysis, program evaluation, survey research, strategic management, and geographic information systems. The communication training provided deputies with specific skills such as conflict management, as well as a reference manual. The grant’s research component consisted of a pretest and posttest analysis of the attitudes of residents of neighborhoods patrolled by the deputies that received the communication training. The final grant component focused on identifying partners’ needs, identifying grant opportunities, procedures for financial administration, and the recruitment of new partners. Program materials, forms, instruments, and tables