Background: The Australian Federal Police (AFP), through the International Deployment Group (IDG) implements police development programs throughout Asia and the Pacific. To provide the basis for monitoring the success of these programs, the IDG has an established performance management system, which includes Organisational Performance Assessments, Community Perception Surveys and Training Needs Analysis. However, these tools do not provide an understanding or insight into what the IDG’s counterpart police officers know, how they feel about a situation, and how they respond.
Sustineo was contracted to design, test, validate and conduct a pilot Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Survey to address this gap and assess the efficacy of such a method for application in the policing context. The purpose of the project was to determine whether a KAP survey method is adaptable to the policing context, and if so, develop an instrument for implementing a KAP survey for use by the IDG.
Approach: Sustineo’s development of the KAP survey drew on principles of co-design in combining the methodological rigour of academic survey design with close engagement with IDG staff to ensure the relevance and suitability of the final questionnaire. The survey consisted of 56 questions across the knowledge, attitudes and practices fields and investigated the key areas of strategic concern for the IDG in relation to their police development programs. This included the domains of core policing skills, leadership and gender issues, as well as basic demographic details to inform analysis. Through three phases of testing, the survey was piloted with 60 IDG and ACT Policing participants. Within each phase, feedback from participants was integrated into the revision of survey questions and survey.
Sustineo partnered with Akvo, a technology organisation focused on promoting open data for development, to integrate best practice in technology-based surveys within the project. Through the pilot, the survey was conducted using Akvo FLOW, a tablet-based field survey system for collecting, managing and analysing geographically referenced survey data.
Outcome: Sustineo produced a comprehensive report reviewing the effectiveness of the KAP survey method and its utility in a policing context. The report identified that the KAP survey method filled a gap in current IDG monitoring and evaluation systems, and could be usefully applied to provide insights on how the difference in dynamics between what people know, how they feel and how they behave, influenced the performance of individuals within policing organisations. The report included a finalised survey instrument, with guidance for its use, with a set of questions that could add value to the broader baseline and monitoring and evaluation systems the IDG have in place. The report identified key recommendations and identification of clear next steps for implementation of the survey within IDG missions in the Asia and Pacific regions