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Journal Article 1: Willits, D. W. (2014). The organisational structure of police departments and assaults on police officers. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 16, 140–154.

Abstract: Previous research links police organisational factors to various police outcomes. However, although research has examined the relationship between specific organisational practices and violence against police, less research has examined the relationship between organisational structure and violence against police officers. Moreover, the research that examines this relationship has typically utilised unreliable data. This study examines the relationship between police organisational structure and assaults on police officers in the USA using data from the 1999–2001 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIRBS), 2000 Census and 2000 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Survey (LEMAS) data sets. Negative binomial regression models suggest that organisational context and organisational complexity are important predictors of violence against police officers. Specifically, controlling for other factors, police departments serving more disadvantaged communities report higher rates of assaults against police officers, whereas those that are more functionally and spatially differentiated report lower levels of assault.

Journal Article 2: Haberman, C. P. (2016). A view inside the “Black Box” of hot spots policing from a sample of police commanders. Police Quarterly, 19, 488–517.

Abstract: This study used observations of crime strategy meetings and interviews with police commanders to “get inside the black box of hot spots policing.” The findings focus on what the studied police commanders believed they were doing and why they believed those tactics would be effective during hot spots policing implemented under non-experimental conditions. An example causal model for the effectiveness of hot spots policing that emerged from the data is presented. While the commanders’ views aligned with commonly used policing tactics and crime control theories, their underlying theoretical rationale is complex. The presented model provides one causal model that could be tested in future hot spots policing evaluations, and a discussion is presented of how the study’s methodology can be applied in other jurisdictions to define localized causal models and improve hot spot policing evaluations.