In Varieties of Police Behavior, a classic study of police organizational behavior published more than 30 years ago, James Q. Wilson discovered three distinctive styles of policing: the legalistic, the watchman, and the service styles. Police agencies with a legalistic orientation focused strictly on law enforcement activities, whereas those with a service style focused on providing needed services to residents and business owners. Furthermore, Wilson identified local political culture as the major determinant of variation in policing styles. Varieties of Police Behavior has become a classic work in police scholarship, described in almost all police textbooks, influencing a generation of students of policing. Citation analyses, additionally, have shown that it is one of the most frequently cited works in policing yet remains one of the least tested empirical studies. This study retests the validity of Wilson’s findings in today’s policing environment with the goal of furthering theoretical formation in police research. Based on recent data from a sample of large municipal American police agencies, we find little support for Wilson’s theory of local political culture in contemporary police practice.
Bartollas, C., & Hahn, L. (1999). Police in America. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
2.
Bernard, T. J.(1990). Twenty years of testing theories: What have we learned and why?Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 27(4), 325-347.
3.
Carter, D., & Radelet, L. (1999). The police and the community. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
4.
Cohn, E. G., Farrington, D. P., & Wright, R. A. (1998). Evaluating criminal justice and criminology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
5.
Crank, J. P. (1990). The influence of environmental and organizational factors on police style in urban and rural environments. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 27, 166-189.
6.
Crank, J. P. (1992). Police style and legally serious crime: A contextual analysis of municipal police departments. Journal of Criminal Justice, 20, 401-412.
7.
Crank, J. P. (1994). Watchman and community: Myth and institutionalization in policing. Law and Society Review, 28, 325-352.
8.
Fisher, J., & Mason, R. (1981). The analysis of multicollinear data in criminology. In J. A. Fox (Ed.), Methods in quantitative criminology (pp. 99-125). New York: Academic Press.
9.
Fyfe, J., Greene, J., Walsh, W., Wilson, O. W., & McLaren, R. (1997). Police administration (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
10.
Guyot, D. (1977). Police departments under social science scrutiny. Journal of Criminal Justice, 5, 105-118.
11.
Judge, G., Hill, R., Griffiths, W., Lukepohl, H., & Lee, T. (1988). Introduction to the theory and practice of econometrics (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
12.
Kelling, G.,& Moore, M. (1988). From political to reform to community: The evolving strategy of police. In J. Greene & S. Mastrofski (Eds.), Community policing: Rhetoric or reality? (pp. 1-26). New York: Praeger.
13.
Langworthy, R. (1985). Research note: Wilson’s theory of police behavior: A replication of the constraint theory. Justice Quarterly, 2, 89-98.
14.
Langworthy, R. (1986). The structure of police organizations. New York: Praeger.
15.
Langworthy, R., & Travis, L. (1999). Policing in America: A balance of forces (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
16.
Lineberry, R.,& Fowler, E. (1967). Reformism and public policies in American cities. American Political Science Review, 61, 701-716.
17.
Maguire, E. R., Kuhns, J. B., Uchida, C. D., & Cox, S. (1997). Patterns of community policing in nonurban America. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 34,368-394.
18.
Maguire, E. R., & Uchida, C. D. (2000). Measurement and explanation in the comparative study of American police organizations. In D. Duffee (Ed.), Measurement and analysis of crime and justice: Vol. 4. Criminal justice 2000 (pp. 491-560). Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
19.
Mastrofski, S. D., Ritti, R. R., & Snipes, J. B. (1994). Expectancy theory and police productivity in DUI enforcement. Law and Society Review, 28, 113-148.
20.
Meyer, M. (1986). A case study of service style policing in a non-metropolitan police organization: An elaboration of James Q. Wilson’s styles of policing. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
21.
Pursley, R. (1976). Community characteristics and policy implementations: Some exploratory findings about two categories of municipal police chiefs. Journal of Criminal Justice, 4, 291-301.
22.
Roberg, R., Crank, J., & Kuykendall, J. (2000). Police and society (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Roxbury.
23.
Slovak, J. S. (1986). Styles of urban policing: Organization, environment, and police styles in selected American cities. New York: New York University Press.
24.
Stillman, R. (1974). The rise of the city manager: A public professional in local government. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
25.
Thurman, Q., Zhao, J., & Giacomazzi, J. (2001). Community policing in a community era: An introduction. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
26.
U.S. Bureau of Census. (1990a). The U.S. 1990 census of population: General population characteristics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
27.
U.S. Bureau of Census. (1990b). The U.S. 1990 census of population and housing: Social economic and housing characteristics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
28.
U.S. Bureau of Census. (1995). Census of governments: Vol. 1. Government organization. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
29.
U.S. Department of Justice. (1999). Law enforcement and management administrative statistics. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
30.
Walker, S. (1999). Police in America: An introduction (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill College.
31.
Warner, R., Steel, B., & Lovrich, N. P. (1989). Conditions associated with the advent of representative bureaucracy: The case of women in policing. Social Science Quarterly, 70, 562-578.
32.
Williams, O., & Adrian, C. (1963). Four cities. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press.
33.
Wilson, J. Q. (1968). Varieties of police behavior. New York: Harvard University Press.
34.
Wright, R. A., & Miller, J. M. (1998). The most cited scholars and works in police studies. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 21, 240-254.
35.
Zhao, J. (1996). Why police organizations change: A study of community policing. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum.
36.
Zhao, J., & Lovrich, N. (1998). Determinants of minority employment in American municipal police agencies: The representation of African American officers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 26, 267-277.
