A test of Lundman’s organizational product thesis with data on citizen complaints

Applying Lundman's organizational product thesis in explaining citizen complaints against police use of excessive physical force, the current study tests several hypotheses with a national data set. Tobit regression analyses of the data show that Lundman's thesis is partially supported. Both organizational behavior and organizational characteristics are important covariates of the complaint rate against police use of excessive physical force. Although generalization is limited, police departments need to actively recruit more mature persons into the police force, reinforce field training officer programs, and continually provide more in‐service training programs for its members if they are serious in reducing citizens' complaints.