Case Routinization in Investigative Police Work

Abstract

This study of the interpretation and handling of criminal incidents is based on nine months of participant observation in a city police detective division. Detectives' ethods for handling ordinary cases do not follow from the formal organization of the work or the character of normal supervisory practices, but rather from the bureaucratic requirements of 1) producing reports and 2) making the proper number and type of arrests. The essence of the case handling process lies in the interpretation of particular criminal incidents in terms of commonalities between the specific case and typified conceptions of routine or normal cases. The extent to which a case is investigated depends primarily on whether the incident is defined as routine or nonroutine. The case routinization procedures employed by detectives reflect their shared understandings of typical crimes, typical involved parties, and the expected behavior of different types of residents in the urban environment.

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