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Crime & Delinquency
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The Organizational Determinants of Police Arrest Decisions

Allison T. Chappell

Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University

John M. MacDonald

RAND Corporation

Patrick W. Manz

American Prosecutors Research Institute, VA

A limited amount of research has examined the relationship between characteristics of police organizations and policing styles. In particular, few studies have examined the link between organizational structures and police officer arrest decisions. Wilson’s (1968) pioneering case study of police organizations suggested that individual police behavior is a function of departmental goals that occur within the broader political climate of a community. Wilson suggested that agencies could be classified into three typologies: the watchman style, the legalistic style, and the service style. The present study examines the influence of organizational characteristics associated with these styles on individual officers’ arrest rates using nationally representative data from large police agencies. Findings suggest that police officer arrest decisions are partially explained by variations in police organizational structures. The implications of these findings for contemporary organizational explanations of police behavior are discussed.

Key Words: policing • police organizations • arrests

Crime & Delinquency, Vol. 52, No. 2, 287-306 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0011128705278329
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