Wilson Redux

Abstract

Since the publication of Varieties of Police Behavior more than four decades ago, Wilson's theory concerning the link between local political culture and police styles has had a significant and enduring impact on police scholarship. However, there have been surprisingly few empirical tests of Wilson's assertions, and of those limited number of studies, only a small number provide even partial support for the model. The current study provides a test of Wilson's theory using a unique measure of police style derived from observational data rather than official arrest/citation statistics. Perhaps more important, we discuss our findings within the context of previous research that has failed to support Wilson's theory and present a critical assessment of the requirements of a valid test of this theory. We argue that Wilson's model retains an intuitive appeal to those interested in explaining the relationship between local community context and police behavior.