CJ 325: Research Methods (Tolle): Government Documents

The State of Policing in the United States, volume 1.

Erin Healy Gallagher, John Kim, John Markovic and Deborah Spence (eds.). 2016. The State of Policing in the United States, volume 1. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Skim through your document and respond to the following:

1. What is the purpose of this report? (Hint: a lot of information is on page iv of the report).


2. What is COPS? What do you consider the level of authority this source to be?


3. What does the source itself provide to convince you that this is a credible information source?


4. How does the format and presentation of the information within the report influence your evaluation? Consider the text and statistics presented.


5. What research question(s) could this source help you answer if you were to write a paper on community policing? Answer this question by also considering your overall evaluation of the source and whether you'd use the source or not.