Customer Reviews

What Every Chief Executive Should Know

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Jon Shane's book is a timely contribution to the police administration and performance measurement literature. It is thoughtfully presented in a logical and readily understandable fashion, which may very well make these fundamental performance measurement and statistical tools available to administrators throughout the nation.

Admittedly, a technical book, with the preponderance of the text devoted to detailed explanations of the tools and techniques outlined. The book is subdivided into three sections - Performance Measurement, Statistics and Data Analysis and Management and Efficiency - Shane takes the reader through the maze of statistical tools and techniques that can be used by a Chief Executive to plan and then navigate the agency's progress. The book includes a CD that contains formatted spreadsheets, which with minimal work, can be tailored to the direct benefit of the reader.

This is not light recreational reading. Rather this book contains information that may yield direct and substantive benefits to the reader for some years to come. This book does deliver on the title; this volume provides the information that every Chief Executive should know. The book would be an appropriate text for graduate criminal justice/police administration courses, as well as a valuable addition to practitioners' bookshelves.

Buy this book, but more importantly put this information to use.

Dr. Jon Shane's book takes its rightful place among the significant texts on the subject of police science and administration. It truly is what every police executive must know, particularly during these times of economic constraints, greater demand for fiscal justification, and administrative accountability. The text is a "how to" of data compilation and assessment, and the use of quantitative methods in argument and persuasion. Computerized management information technology is presented to the reader in a comprehensible, easy-to-use format; instructive as well as interesting.

Dr. Robert J. Daniello

Dr. Shane has delivered a refreshing, comprehensive technical guide for effectively managing police performance and efficiency. His system is a welcome update to existing compstat-style methods and the increasingly recognized limitations therein. The convergence of Dr. Shane's professional and academic erudition are clear as he demonstrates the benefits (and wisdom)of more robust measurement processes to effectively manage police organizations. Whereas existing practices have relied on elementary crime rate number crunching and slightly more than anecdotally-based planning, Dr. Shane provides step by step best-practice methods to incorporate myriad of factors effecting police performance. Just as compstat revolutionized police management over 15 years ago, this book is sure to be the foundation upon which the "next generation" of compstat will be built.