James Q. Wilson, Varieties of Police Behavior: The Management of Law and Order in Eight Communities (Harvard University Press, 1968, 1978).

“Varieties of Police Behavior encapsulates a central feature of James Q Wilson’s political science. He was interested in identifying key problems of governing — in this case, controlling crime and disorder — which can only be handled, not solved; in exploring the various ways governments respond to these problems and dilemmas; in understanding the mindset behind these competing styles; and in comparing their effectiveness in achieving multiple and often conflicting goals. A great deal political science is obsessed with discovering universal laws of political behavior. Wilson was more interested in describing and comparing the varieties of political behavior — which were themselves the consequence of varieties of human motivation — that we observe around us, provided we make the effort to look.”
R. Shep Melnick (2012)

Online:
Google Books
Partial excerpts [pdf]