The 1990s represented a unique decade in which to analyze the determinants of police strength in the United States. This decade was a time in which crime initially increased, then substantially decreased. Furthermore, this decade also was characterized by increases in the minority population throughout large American cities. Finally, the 1990s…

Recent police shootings in which multiple officers fired numerous rounds at suspects have led some observers to assert that such situations involve "contagious fire," where an initial officer's shots launch a cascade of gunfire from other officers present. Although there is anecdotal recognition of the contagious fire phenomenon among…

A variety of theories have emerged that offer plausible explanations, one from the political institutional perspective and others from sociological perspective. There has been renewed interest in the effect of local political structure on police strength in the policing literature. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to assess the two main…

Racial bias in traffic enforcement has become a popular line of inquiry, but examinations into explanations for the disparity have been scant. The current research integrates theoretical insights from the racial threat hypothesis with inferences drawn from the empirical analyses of the factors that stimulate officer suspicion. The most intriguing…

In New Zealand, selected sworn police officers called youth aid officers participate in discussions and deliberations concerning the actions required to restore the sense of community balance upset by the actions of juvenile offenders. The author explores a representative sample of all sworn police officers serving in the New Zealand Police,…

Problem solving begins with problem identification. Conventional knowledge suggests that because patrol officers work specific geographical areas (beats) on a fairly constant basis, they come to see where the problems exist; thus, police experience alone can be relied on to identify crime problems. However, few have examined whether officers are…