Scales of blue: street-level bureaucrats in the Nederlandse Politie

Abstract

In the daily practices of street-level bureaucrats they encounter multiple different situations. Street-level bureaucrats act differently in certain situations. This qualitative research focuses on the behavior of police officers and how we can understand differences between them. However, besides differences there are also many similarities between police officers which is mostly due to the fact that they have to act according to rules. The rules and expectations of the organization create uniformity in their behavior, and other factors such as the specific situation and individual characteristics are better able to explain differences between officers.