The most persistent problem in American policing is style: the police are continually challenged to perform according to the community's expectations of how police ought to perform. During the 1960's, the violent confrontations between police and minority communities forced the convening of the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals which examined the entire criminal justice system and offered recommendations for improvement. In the case of poor minority communities, the Commission recommended that the police adopt a particular style, the team policing model, in order to obtain better cooperation from citizens and, ultimately, greater assistance in solving and preventing crimes. Team policing projects have emerged in many cities. Some have failed, others prosper. During 1977-78, I scrutinized one such program that failed. I chronicled the demise of a two-year team policing project conducted by the Pima County, Arizona, Sheriff's Department (PCSD) in the New Pascua Yaqui community located twenty miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona.
