ABSTRACT
The patrol task is structured and ordered through the interaction between the organisation, occupation and environment in which it is located, which give rise to the peculiar configuration of working rules that are contained in the occupational culture. The ascendancy of the occupational culture over other forms of influence arises from the paradox that, in police work, discretion tends to increase towards the bottom of the hierarchy. The problem of supervision is not just a technical matter, but relates to the legal position of the constable. Police constables are legally autonomous and therefore their immediate superiors cannot instruct them as to precisely what to do in a given situation, since discretion is an integral part of the office. In reactive policing especially, this problem of control is heightened by informational uncertainty. The uncertainty faced by the lower ranks results in the need to control as much information as possible.
