Table Of ContentCANADIAN STUDIES IN CRIMINOLOGY
1 Sentencing as a Human Process
BY JOHN HOGARTH
2 Men Released from Prison
BY IRVIN WALLER
3 Legal Aid in the Criminal Courts
BY JAMES L.WILKINS
4 Burglary: The Victim and the Public
BY IRVIN WALLER and NORMAN OKIHIRO
5 Reproducing Order: A Study of Police Patrol Work
BY RICHARD V. ERICSON
6 The Ordering of Justice:
A Study of Accused Persons as Dependants in the Criminal Process
BY RICHARD V. ERICSON and PATRICIA BARANEK
This page intentionally left blank
Reproducing Order:
A Study of
Police Patrol Work
Richard V. Ericson
Published in association with
the Centre of Criminology,
University of Toronto, by
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
© University of Toronto Press 1982
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
Reprinted 1984, 1988, 1991
ISBN 0-8020-5569-9 (cloth)
ISBN 0-8020-6475-2 (paper)
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Ericson, Richard V., 1948-
Reproducing order
(Canadian studies in criminology; 5)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8020-5569-9 (bound). - ISBN 0-8020-6475-2 (pbk.)
1. Police patrol - Canada. 2. Police patrol -
Canada - Case studies. I. University of Toronto.
Centre of Criminology. II. Title. III. Series.
HV8080.P2E75 363.2'32 C82-094167-0
To Tony
For his good sense of humour
and his keen sense of order
Contents
LIST OF TABLES/Vll
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS / XI
1 The Police as Reproducers of Order / 3
Policing: Expansive and Expensive / 3
The Police, Crime, and Reproducing Order / 5
Police Discretion and Uses of Rules/ 11
The Organizational Forums of Police Work / 16
Reproducing Order: Some Research Questions / 30
2 Research Strategy/33
Research Procedures / 34
Research Setting / 41
Research Execution/45
3 The Occupational Environment/52
Work Routines/52
Bureaucratic Controls and Routine Work / 55
The Patrol Sergeant / 55
Dependent Uncertainty and Boredom / 61
Responses / 63
4 Mobilization / 73
Proactive Mobilization / 78
Controls on Proactive Work / 84
Proactive Cues / 86
vi Contents
Reactive Mobilization / 88
The Role of the Dispatcher 791
Defining Citizen Roles 797
5 Dealing with Victim-Complainants /100
Minor Complaints 7 102
Major Complaints 7 105
Citizen Requests and the Production of Organizational Accounts 7114
Implications for 'Controlology' 7 134
6 Dealing with Suspects and Accused Persons 7137
Minor Dealings 7138
Major Dealings 7 150
Patterns in Major Dealings with Suspects 7 150
Compliance of Suspects 7 160
Getting a Charge 7 168
Charging and the Production of Court Outcomes 7 176
7 Conclusions and Implications: Some Comments on
Constructive policing 7194
Constructive Policing 7 194
Evaluating Policing 7 196
Justifying Policing 7 203
Questioning Policing 7 205
NOTES 7 209
BIBLIOGRAPHY 7 225
INDEX 7 237
Tables
2.1 Rank structure and membership / 43
2.2 Percentage change in volume of activity 1974-76/44
3.1 Uniformed patrol shift activity / 53
3.2 Patrol officers' characterization of reactive incident calls upon receipt, prior to
arrival, and after the encounter / 64
4.1 Types of mobilization and types of citizen encounters / 75
4.2 Type of encounter, mobilization, and the presence of other police officers / 76
4.3 Nature and setting of disputes in proactive mobilization / 80
4.4 Nature and setting of disputes in reactive mobilization 781
4.5 Total number and role of citizens present in citizen contact and incident
encounters, excluding bystanders / 99
5.1 Victim-complainants in citizen contact encounters: mobilization, nature of dis-
pute, victim-complainant characteristics, and whether official report against
proportion of victim-complainants given advice/assistance /104
5.2 Victim-complainants in citizen contact encounters: stepwise discriminant anal-
ysis of mobilization, dispute type, victim-complainant characteristics, and
whether official report taken against whether advice/assistance given /105
5.3 Victim-complainants in citizen contact encounters: mobilization, nature of dis-
pute, victim-complainant characteristics, and whether advice/assistance given
against proportion of victim-complainants subject to official report /106
5.4 Victim-complainants in citizen contact encounters: stepwise discriminant anal-
ysis of mobilization, dispute type, victim-complainant characteristics, and
whether advice/assistance given against whether official report taken /107
5.5 Victim-complainants in incident encounters: mobilization, dispute characteris-
tics, victim-complainant characteristics, and other patrol officer actions
against proportion given advice/assistance /108
5.6 Incident victim-complainants: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization,
dispute characteristics, victim-complainant characteristics, and other patrol
officer actions against whether or not advice/assistance was given /109
viii Tables
5.7 Victim-complainants in incident encounters: mobilization, dispute characteris-
tics, victim-complainant characteristics, and other patrol officer actions
against proportion given advice concerning other formal action /110
5.8 Incident victim-complainants: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization,
dispute characteristics, victim-complainant characteristics, and other patrol
officer actions against whether or not advice concerning other formal action
was given /111
5.9 Victim-complainants in incident encounters: mobilization, dispute characteris-
tics, victim-complainant characteristics, and other patrol officer actions
against proportion subject to official reports /112
5.10 Incident victim-complainants: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization,
dispute characteristics, victim-complainant characteristics, and other patrol
officer actions against whether or not an official report was taken /113
5.11 Incident victim-complainant special requests and patrol officer action on
requests/116
5.12 Incident victim-complainant special requests and patrol officer action on
requests, by nature of dispute /117
6.1 Suspects in citizen contact encounters: mobilization, dispute type, suspect
characteristics, and other patrol officer actions related to proportion of sus-
pects subject to CPIC checks / 140
6.2 Citizen contact suspects: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization, dis-
pute type, suspect characteristics, and other patrol officer actions against
whether or not a CPIC check was undertaken /141
6.3 Suspects in citizen contact encounters: mobilization, dispute type, suspect
characteristics, and other patrol officer actions related to proportion of sus-
pects receiving warnings /143
6.4 Citizen contact suspects: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization, dis-
pute type, suspect characteristics, and other patrol officer actions against
whether or not a warning was given / 144
6.5 Suspects in citizen contact encounters: mobilization, dispute type, suspect
characteristics, and other patrol officer actions related to proportion of sus-
pects receiving a traffic summons /145
6.6 Suspects in citizen contacts: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization,
dispute type, suspect characteristics, and other patrol officer actions against
whether or not a traffic summons was issued /146
6.7 Suspects in incident encounters: mobilization, dispute characteristics, suspect
characteristics, and other patrol officer actions related to proportion of sus-
pects subject to investigative CPIC checks / 151
6.8 Incident suspects: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization, dispute char-
acteristics, suspect characteristics, and other patrol officer actions against
whether or not a CPIC check was undertaken /153
6.9 Suspects in incident encounters: mobilization, dispute characteristics, suspect
characteristics, and other patrol officer actions related to proportion of sus-
pects subject to searches /154
Tables ix
6.10 Incident suspects: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization, dispute char-
acteristics, suspect characteristics, and other patrol officer actions against
whether or not a suspect was searched /155
6.11 Suspects in incident encounters: mobilization, dispute characteristics, suspect
characteristics, and other patrol officer actions related to proportion of sus-
pects subject to informal warnings /156
6.12 Incident suspects: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization, dispute char-
acteristics, suspect characteristics, and other patrol officer actions against
whether or not a warning was given /157
6.13 Patrol officer formal action against suspects in incident encounters /157
6.14 Suspects in incident encounters: mobilization, dispute characteristics, suspect
characteristics, and other patrol officer actions related to proportion of sus-
pects subject to formal action /159
6.15 Incident suspects: stepwise discriminant analysis of mobilization, dispute char-
acteristics, suspect characteristics, and other patrol officer action against
whether or not formal action taken /161
6.16 Patrol officer constraints placed on suspects subject to further processing and
suspects' objections to these constraints /167
6.17 Change in charges after originally being laid by police up to court determina-
tion of guilt or innocence for acused persons charged under the Criminal Code
and Narcotics Control Act /177
6.18 Plea, change in charge(s), and finding for accused persons charged under the
Criminal Code and Narcotics Control Act /177
