Police Response to Residential Burglaries

Residential burglaries are important disruptions of the social order and may require special work on the part of the responding law enforcement officer. This study suggests that officers in some departments use crime scene processing as a form of remedial work or negative rite after especially serious breaches of the home as a private place and territory of the self. Controlling for the dollar value of the property loss, presence of suspect leads, and victim's race and insurance coverage, we found that officers in a southern sheriff's department were we likely to call in an evidence technician to dust for prints when victims lost objects typically regarded as markers of the self and when entry involved the use of force.