DONUT SHOPS AND SPEED TRAPS - EVALUATING MODELS OF SUPERVISION ON POLICE BEHAVIOR

Several recent articles outline the formal logic of supervision and co mpliance (e.g., Bianco and Bates 1990; Holmstrom 1982; Kreps 1990; and Miller 1992). These models lead to widely varying conclusions about w hat makes for effective supervision, indeed, whether supervision can i nduce compliance among subordinates at all. Our paper evaluates these models by extending the formal logic into models of the systemic compo nent of the stochastic processes of police behavior. In other words, w hen is it time to lay a speed trap, and when is it time to go to the d onut shop?