Working the Street: Police Discretion and the Dilemmas of ReformNow available in paperback, this provocative study examines the street-level decisions made by police, caught between a sometimes hostile community and a maze of departmental regulations. Probing the dynamics of three sample police departments, Brown reveals the factors that shape how officers wield their powers of discretion. Chief among these factors, he contends, is the highly bureaucratic organization of the modern police department. A new epilogue, prepared for this edition, focuses on the structure and operation of urban police forces in the 1980s. "Add this book to the short list of important analyses of the police at work....Places the difficult job of policing firmly within its political, organizational, and professional constraints...Worth reading and thinking about." —Crime & Delinquency "An excellent contribution...Adds significantly to our understanding of contemporary police." —Sociology "A critical analysis of policing as a social and political phenomenon....A major contribution." —Choice |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 19 | |
Cops as Professionals and Bureaucrats | 53 |
Working the Street | 133 |
The Politics of Police Discretion | 281 |
Other editions - View all
Working the Street: Police Discretion and the Dilemmas of Reform Michael K. Brown No preview available - 1988 |
Working the Street: Police Discretion and the Dilemmas of Reform Michael K. Brown No preview available - 1981 |
Common terms and phrases
action administrative controls aggressive ambiguous American Angeles attitude test August Vollmer authority autonomy burglary citation citizen's arrest citizens Clean Beat complaints conflict confront control crime criteria decisions departmental drunk driving enforce the law evaluation exercise of discretion expectations family dispute felony field interrogations field supervisors fighting Hispanic important individuals Inglewood James Q Joseph Wambaugh juveniles LAPD law enforcement less limits Los Angeles ment Michael Lipsky minor violations narcotics nonenforcement norms Northeast Division Number of Respondents observed Old Style Crime operational style organizational patrol patrolmen believe Patrolmen Supervisors percent police administrators police culture police departments police discretion police professionalism policemen political pressures priorities problem profes professional police question Rampart Rampart Division Redondo Beach reform relationship responses role rules sergeant situation small departments social society stop strategy street street-level bureaucrats Style Crime Fighters team policing three departments tion traffic uncertainty Urban values York