Abstract

This limited examination of policy diffusion mechanisms provides some support for learning as a mechanism for diffusing patrol rifles across police agencies. Policy diffusion is generally defined as a government making policy choices based on the policies existing in other governments. A contemporary law enforcement concern for police agencies is the “active-shooter” incident. Many police agencies now have policies that allow their street officers to be armed with patrol rifles, a high-powered, military-style weapon that historically was used only by SWAT officers. This study used a snowball sampling technique to distribute an online survey to 168 officers who in the past had attended the FBI National Academy. Three mechanisms common in policy diffusion were measured: learning, coercion, and imitation. While measures of learning were seen in the diffusion process, the measure of imitation was inconsistent with expectations, and coercion was not found in the data. Considerations for future research are discussed, including the need for improved measures and the potential for utilizing public opinion in studies of the patrol rifle policy diffusion process.