Community characteristics and policy implications: Some exploratory findings about two categories of municipal police chiefs

There is a great deal of evidence that would indicate that the characteristics of a community are related to public policy decisions. This investigation examines and compares the community and departmental characteristics of cities that employ college- educated chiefs of police by means of lateral entry with a group of matched communities that do not. It is hypothesized that the particular characteristics of cities in terms of general socio- economic status (SES) characteristics will play an important role in the style of law enforcement that prevails. By uncovering these characteristics, some generalized assumptions can be made about what citizen expectations of police managers and police department policies might be.