Research for the front lines.

It is a truism in the sociology of science that scientific knowledge bears the imprint of particular perspectives, interests, and values. In social science, it is especially common to find that research serves the needs of managers and policymakers better than it serves the needs of front-line workers. This paper analyzes the traces of that tendency in police research. By examining three features of front-line police work (the need to improve programs rather than assess them, the need to attend to an enormous number of situational details, and the need to cope with ambiguous and contradictory goals), I argue that common approaches to police research address managerial and policy concerns better than line officer concerns. To help rectify this imbalance, I discuss three variations on an alternative research strategy that deserves more emphasis in policy-oriented police research - one grounded in concrete case study description and analysis that often eschews causal generalizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]