Citation

Brown WP. J. Crim. Justice 1975; 3(1): 1-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1975, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(75)90095-1

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

An attempt is made to provide a usable and comprehensive analysis of the local policing task. Prior attempts to discuss the nature of police work are summarized and a descriptive model is developed, based on a matrix analysis involving three dichotomies: public need (individual victimization, community need), official response (control, service), and process (incident, issue). The result of the analysis is a three-dimensional model of the police task as consisting of four distinct and mutually exclusive elements: victimizing crime, victimizing emergency, regulation, and community service. Each element is further considered in terms of the potentials of the process (incident ⇌ issue) dimension.