Police behavior: a sociological perspective

Focusing on the results of recent research in the areas of police patrol behavior and misconduct, this volume presents a sociological perspective on police behavior for the student of criminology and related areas. Essays address the problems of police patrol work, police-citizen encounters, the social organization of arrest, police control of juveniles, routine police arrest practices, public drunkenness, and police work with traffic violators. Selections on police corruption focus on case studies of police crime, particularly in New York City. Police brutality and incidences of police homicide are also discussed. Essays provide insight into the nature of police patrol behavior and the types of citizen-initiated problems that police patrol officers confront. The papers illustrate that, in encounters when officers can choose among a variety of dispositional alternatives, extralegal criteria (such as demeanor and race) may dominate police exercise of discretion. Moreover, they show that corruption is present in nearly all police departments that have been studied, although the extent of corruption varies among departments. Studies cited in the essays suggest that unnecessary force by patrol officers is far from uncommon.

Preface -- Overview -- I. Police conduct. Introduction -- 1. The problems. Preview of the selections -- 1. The police charge / Egon Bittner -- 2. Policing / Joseph Livermore -- 3. Police patrol work : a comparative perspective / Richard J. Lundman -- 2. The encounter. Preview of the selections -- 4. Cop's rules / Jonathan Rubinstein -- 5. Police-citizen encounters : a field test of exchange theory / Mary Glenn Wiley and Terry L Hudik -- 6. Deference exchange in police-civilian encounters / Richard E. Sykes and John P. Clark -- 3. The decision. Preview of the selections -- 7. Production of crime rates / Donald Black -- 8. Police control of juveniles : a replication / Richard J. Lundman, Richard E. Sykes, and John P. Clark -- 9. The social organization of arrest / Donald Black -- II. Police misconduct. Introduction -- 4. Abuse of arrest discretion. Preview of the selections -- 10. Routine police arrests practices : a commonweal perspective / Richard J. Lundman -- 11. Mobilization in public drunkenness control : the legal approach / Paul A. Pastor, Jr. -- 12. Police work with traffic law violators / Richard J. Lundman -- 5. Corruption. Preview of the selections -- 13. Blue-coat crime…