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Employs a quasi‐experimental design to assess the operational costs and benefits of a consolidated department. Northern York County Police Department, the experimental group, was consolidated in 1972. Uses a comparison group consisting of eight police departments in a contiguous county in rural Pennsylvania to compare the outcome variables. Finds that whereas reducing costs may be the expected benefit of consolidation other benefits such as more opportunity for training and the use of specialized units were evident.

Internationally publicized cases of police violence against unarmed black men have led to calls for accountability in policing. Increased footage of police–public interactions, specifically through the form of police body-worn cameras (BWCs), is encouraged and considered an innovation that can improve the policing profession. However, BWC adoption is likely more feasible in big city departments than in small and rural departments, who respond to many of the same issues as their larger counterparts. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of BWC among leaders of small and rural police departments.

Using a mixed methods approach, the authors surveyed 349 chiefs of small and rural Pennsylvania police departments and conducted qualitative follow-up interviews with 53 chiefs.

The results indicate that both adopters and non-adopters esteem BWC in a positive light, particularly toward the ability to improve professionalism and police–community relations. Other findings and implications of these results will be discussed.

This study focuses on small and rural police departments, which make up the majority of police departments but are often understudied.

The present research involves surveying police officers from ten police departments (N = 2,316) to determine if the size of the agency affects police stress ratings. Nine stress scales, as well as demographic and police career variables, were examined to identify possible relationships. Administrative stress was ranked as the most stressful, regardless of agency size, however, officers from larger police departments did report higher stress ratings on some scales. Policy implications are discussed.

Although community policing is still in its formative stages in the USA, much of the research has been directed to programmes being implemented in large cities where high levels of crime and fear are part of the social fabric. Research on community policing in small cities and towns is still in the preliminary stage. To meet this challenge, the present paper reviews data from a survey of 82 police departments in cities and towns having less than 200,000 inhabitants. Emphasis is directed to the kinds of community policing strategies employed by the departments and the opportunities for community residents to participate in the decision‐making processes relating to community policing. Data reveal that the transition of police departments from a traditional reactive philosophy to one of community policing is an evolving process. Structured strategies that provide resident input into community policing are likely to occur as the programmes evolve over time, and generally follow changes in police deployment and the establishment of working relation‐ships with community agencies, both public and private.

The nature of policework is uniquely challenging to officers’ mental health, producing detrimental outcomes such as higher rates of suicide, substance abuse and divorce compared to other occupations. This is especially true in small and rural police departments, where officers often have broader responsibilities and cover a larger geographic area than their counterparts who work in large urban departments. Given the limited resources available to small and rural police, the purpose of this study is to explore the mental health services available to officers in small and rural police departments.

We used a mixed methods approach. First, we surveyed 349 small and rural Pennsylvania police chiefs about the mental health services in their department. Of these chiefs, 53 participated in subsequent in-depth qualitative interviews about officer awareness of the mental health services available to them, what resources they thought would be helpful to officers and what barriers exist to prevent officers from seeking help.

Quantitative results indicated that 22% of small and rural police departments had no mental health programs available to officers; Critical Incident Stress Management and Employee Assistance Programs were most commonly available. Budget size and the presence of a union influenced whether a department had mental health programs available to officers. Qualitative interviews found that although most departments provided some mental health services, officers were unlikely to use them. Chiefs expressed a need for improved services that officers might be more likely to use.

Given the lack of resources available in small and rural police departments and the lack of adoption of some resources, we recommend peer assistance, general wellness programs and telehealth as feasible options for officer mental health.

Small and rural police comprise the bulk of policing in the USA, yet remain understudied. This study focuses on small and rural police.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical examination of the characteristics of Indian reservation police agencies at the start of the twenty‐first century.

The paper uses national data on tribal police agencies from the 2000 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies and from the 2002 Census of Tribal Justice Agencies (both conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics).

The analysis presented documents both common and distinctive trends in Indian Country policing, and compares tribal police agencies on reservations with non‐Indian police organizations generally.

The paper provides an empirical reference point for assessing future changes and developments in this mostly undocumented form of US policing.

American police departments are beginning to implement social media as a strategy to engage the surrounding communities through various methods, including Facebook and Twitter. The purpose of this paper is to examine the varieties in the use of Facebook and Twitter by local police departments.

This study collected all data between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014 from Facebook and Twitter accounts of seven city police departments in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. These agencies resemble many police departments in the USA, and in total serve a diverse population of approximately 1,435,000. Content analysis and statistical tests are conducted.

Results show that specific types of posts are more engaging for the community. Facebook and Twitter interactions vary depending upon the type of posts, demonstrating that citizens are using Facebook and Twitter to interact in different ways.

The findings presented here give police agencies’ insight on how to appropriately adjust their use of social media to fulfill the needs of the citizens and optimize interactions with the community.

This is the first study to systematically examine and analyze the varieties in the use of social media by traditional American local police departments and their interactions with citizens.

The major purpose of this paper is the review of the administration and operation of four on‐scene victim assistance units within law enforcement agencies in one Canadian and three US cities. The primary purpose is to learn how these units operate and the extent to which there are accepted by the officers involved. An additional purpose is learn how many departments nationally had such units.

The basic methodology includes telephone interviews with key personnel in each unit, an on‐site examination of the Denver, Colorado unit, and a brief survey of large city police departments to learn the extent of on‐scene units in major US cities.

A review of the administration and operation of each unit reveals that each unit is well managed, integrated into the department's structure, and staffed with paid staff who are members of the department and volunteers. Key to the success of each unit is extensive training of victim specialists and a clear understanding between specialists and police that the officers at the scene are in charge. The findings clearly confirm that such units are well received by officers at all levels. The survey findings indicate that relatively few departments have on‐scene victim assistance units, although most do have some program to address victims' issues.

While there is an extensive literature on victim assistance generally, little has been written about the need for, and operation of, on‐scene victim assistance units that are part of police departments. This article contributes to knowledge in this area and suggests that such units can be a valuable asset to departments.

The process of institutionalizing police reform has been relatively ignored in the policing literature. Owing to this, there is no established framework for institutionalizing police reform. This article seeks to add to the knowledge regarding the institutionalization of police reform by presenting the results from a study that examined the institutionalization of problem‐oriented policing (POP) in the CMPD.

The research was guided by the limited amount of organizational change in policing research and the limited amount of organizational development literature pertaining to institutionalization. The research utilized captain interviews and rank‐and‐file surveys to determine officer knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes towards POP in the CMPD. The CMPD's policies, procedures, and practices pertaining to POP were also outlined.

It was found that POP has become institutionalized in the CMPD. POP principles are evident in the captain's culture, rank‐and‐file's culture, and the policy and procedure of the CMPD.

The study puts forth a framework for assessing and institutionalizing police reform that other departments can test and utilize in their efforts to institutionalize police reform.

The paper is one of the first to examine the institutionalization process of police reform. A framework is put forth to assess and aid in other police departments' efforts to institutionalize police reforms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the nature of policing services allows for economies of scale to be realized. It is also a replication of Southwick (2005).

This study replicates the methodology used by Southwick (2005) to estimate police production and demand in order to determine whether there are economies of scale among police departments in a western state. Southwick’s (2005) method is unique in that it incorporates measures of market power to predict police efficiency. The present study is unique in that it involves data from a low-density, low-population western state.

Southwick’s results for New York State are markedly different from the results found for Idaho, thus questioning the external validity of Southwick’s model as applied to a relatively low-population state. The findings also indicate that, controlling for relevant variables, crime in Idaho is highly correlated with population, suggesting that police departments in low density/population states would not achieve efficiency gains through consolidation.

The implications of this study include validating police performance measures and evaluating applicability of market power to police departments.

No evidence was found to support the contention that consolidation of police departments results in efficiency gains.

This is the first study of economies of scale in policing to use data from a low-density, low-population western state.