Community and Departmental Characteristics Among Two Categories of Municipal Police Chiefs

• DOI: 10.1177/027507407500900206
• Date: 01 April 1975
• Published date: 01 April 1975
• Author: Robert D. Pursley
• Subject Matter: Articles

Community and Departmental Characteristics
Among Two Categories of Municipal Police Chiefs
ROBERT D. PURSLEY
School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University
There exists significant research which would indicate that com-
munity characteristics are associated with the existence of certain structural
features of municipal government (Clark, 1968; Kessel, 1962; Alford and
Scoble, 1965; Wolfinger and Field, 1968; Lineberry and Fowler, 1967).
Investigators have also found that political, social and economic
characteristics of cities are related to certain policy outcomes, particularly
in relation to expenditures for certain services and capital acquisitions
(Masotti and Bowen, 1965; Clark, 1968; Banfield and Wilson, 1964 and
1971). Still other researchers indicate that policy decisions may be the
independent variable that is related to the particular social and economic
characteristics that a community assumes in terms of the residents it
attracts (Woods, 1959; Williams, 1968).
Whatever the causal relationship of these variables is not crucial
for the purpose of this study; what is important is the realization that
public policy and the political, social and economic characteristics of a
community are inextricably related. The existence and the patterning of
the relationships between these variables are as crucial to managers in the
public sector as they are to academic researchers. With the possible excep-
tion of the municipal chief executive, these particular overlays are probably
most impactful upon the local police. Unfortunately, researchers seem
not to realize this, or at least the absence of empirical inquiry on the sub-
ject would substantiate this conclusion. Only one researcher has examined
these interrelationships in any significant way. Wilson (1968) found that
both the characteristics of particular communities as well as the char-
acteristics of the police chief himself determined what he referred to as
&dquo;styles&dquo; of law enforcement that prevailed. For the most part, Wilson
found that there existed a compatible relationship between the police
chief’s perception of what the community expected and the type of law
enforcement they received. This compatibility rested on two factors: the
police chiefs who might be considered less professional simply accom-
modated themselves to community expectations; while the police chiefs
who were more professional found themselves in communities where
normative attitudes were similar to their own, and thus, mutual accom-
modation was more easily attained. Only in one instance, in the case of a
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highly trained professional police administrator who was appointed from
the outside in a more heterogeneous community was there any hint of the
incompatibility of community attitudes and the attitudes of the individual
police chief. In this case the personal predilection of the police manager
determined enforcement policy. A similar occurrence with the appointment
of an &dquo;outsider&dquo; police chief is also documented in a factual case history
of a community in California (Sherwood, 1955).
If we accept the proposition that there exist certain community
features that effect the manner of selection and retention of police adminis-
trators as well as the expected enforcement and service paradigms of police
departments, then they must be uncovered and examined. Such knowledge
is indispensable to the training and education of future police managers.
In this vein we must know the characteristics of communities that attract
these new police leaders so that we can apply established theoretical con-
cepts and relevant empirical findings that can serve as guides to adminis-
trative decision-making. This study will be a small beginning in the process
of uncovering these existing community characteristics.
Purpose of This Study
This study was designed to be an exploratory effect to accomplish
the following: initially, to identify throughout the United States municipal
police chiefs who possess unusual educational, career and professional
characteristics which the professional police literature says are representa-
tive qualities necessary for the development of police management as a
profession. (President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Adminis-
tration of Justice, 1967; National Advisory Commission on Criminal
Justice Standards and Goals, 1973).
Once these individuals were identified they were matched with a
similar number of police chiefs whose educational, career and professional
characteristics are more typical of those that exist in most municipal police
departments today. After they have been identified and matched, this
study will examine specific aggregate data characteristics of the respective
police departments as well as available political, social and economic data
of the communities represented by the two groups for similarities and
differences.
In this manner, if differences are found in certain internal char-
acteristics of the two groups of police departments and between the specific
characteristics of the communities in both groups, a foundation for future
empirical inquiry can be established to examine the following: how much
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of this difference can be ascribed to those particular characteristics of the
police administrators themselves and what are the linkages with the specific
characteristics of the communities? Secondly, what specific community
characteristics exist in those cities employing this new type 5f police admin-
istrator and what possible implications exist for administrative discretion
and decisional criteria for the ever-growing number of mobile police
executives of the future?
Research Design
Initially, an independent panel of police and criminal justice con-
sultants was contacted and asked: &dquo;in light of the recommendations for
developing police management as a profession, what specific characteristics
would...