Improving the measurement of police integrity: An application of LTM to the Klockars et al. (1997) scales

Abstract

In the wake of recent high profile incidents of police misconduct, the issue of police integrity has become of heightened interest for practitioners, academics, and society. One of the continuing challenges, though, has been how to best measure misconduct/integrity. This chapter examines the properties of the latent constructs of police integrity using data collected by Klockars et al. (The measurement of police integrity, National Institute of Justice, Washington, DC, pp. 65-70, 1997) from thirty police departments throughout the United States. To bolster our understanding of the measurement of police integrity, we develop valid and reliable latent constructs of five of the dimensions measured, while, at the same time, considering potential inter-relationships between the constructs. We use latent trait models to reassess the validity of the measures, estimate the correlation between the various sub-constructs of police integrity, and examine measurement invariance of police integrity. Our analyses confirm that the Klockars et al. (The measurement of police integrity, National Institute of Justice, Washington, DC, pp. 65-70, 1997) methodology is a valid way to measure police integrity; however, we find there are several dimensions of police integrity that, while related, are distinct of one another. Specific results and implications for future research are discussed.