ABSTRACT
Culture is a formal force that controls the behavior of department personnel. The organizational culture of the individual police department is rarely, if ever, found in its writings, it is easy to observe from the actions of the department personnel who actually determine what is right or wrong for the individual police department. Organizational culture can be positive, and it can allow personnel to maintain high ethical standards with the need for only a few specific rules. The culture can be very negative, requiring multiple rules, close supervision, and eventually a police department in which trust is not considered an important part of culture. Wilson conducted pioneering work on uniformed police officer discretion, referred to as policing styles. His work led him to conclude that uniformed patrol officers develop trends in how to use their discretion in responding to potential crimes. He called these trends policing styles and he identified three of them: legalistic style, service style, and watchman style.
