“Broken Windows” and fractured history: The use and misuse of history in recent police patrol analysis

In a recent and provocative article entitled “Broken Windows,” James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling propose a new role orientation for the urban police in America. They argue that the police should replace their current preoccupation with crime control and concentrate instead on dealing with small order maintenance problems. Their argument is based upon a synthesis of recent police research and an analysis of police history.

This article critiques the analysis of police history offered by Wilson and Kelling. It disputes their argument that American police officers enjoyed a high degree of legitimacy in the eyes of urban neighborhood residents in the years before the advent of the patrol car. It also offers a different interpretation of the impact of technological innovation upon patterns of police-citizen contacts during the past fifty years.