TY - JOUR
T1 - Police practices in immigrant-destination cities
T2 - Political control or bureaucratic professionalism?
AU - Lewis, Paul
AU - Ramakrishnan, S. Karthick
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2007/7
Y1 - 2007/7
N2 - Political incorporation theory suggests that the incorporation of new groups into city electoral politics will precede any improvements in the way that local bureaucracies treat members of those groups. We argue, however, that the logic and sequencing of political incorporation and bureaucratic response do not apply when explaining police practices toward immigrant residents. Drawing on survey evidence and case studies of California cities, we find that police departments are ahead of city councils and other municipal agencies in providing language support and that local elected officials are largely unaware of key practices of their police departments regarding interactions with immigrants. Such findings support the perspective of bureaucratic incorporation of immigrants, in which local bureaucracies proactively develop their own practices, drawing on a professional ethos.
AB - Political incorporation theory suggests that the incorporation of new groups into city electoral politics will precede any improvements in the way that local bureaucracies treat members of those groups. We argue, however, that the logic and sequencing of political incorporation and bureaucratic response do not apply when explaining police practices toward immigrant residents. Drawing on survey evidence and case studies of California cities, we find that police departments are ahead of city councils and other municipal agencies in providing language support and that local elected officials are largely unaware of key practices of their police departments regarding interactions with immigrants. Such findings support the perspective of bureaucratic incorporation of immigrants, in which local bureaucracies proactively develop their own practices, drawing on a professional ethos.
KW - Bureaucracy
KW - Immigrants
KW - Police behavior
KW - Political incorporation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34347266197&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/1078087407300752
DO - 10.1177/1078087407300752
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34347266197
SN - 1078-0874
VL - 42
SP - 874
EP - 900
JO - Urban Affairs Review
JF - Urban Affairs Review
IS - 6
ER -