problematic quality of saheslances of an audience of believes, These expectancies 46 Chepcer Three Experiential Authortity) Pethaps the most striking characteristic of the fished text.” Only what member ofthe ice and do and, presumably, think are vibe ine i voter having finished the job ‘of collecting data simp ‘ehnd a seaiy descriptive narative justibed lng le image and ideology of ethnographi fat exumption surrounds seat eee ee a Pazratrs authority is aparently enhance, and seg ‘over pewonal subjectivity become mont snils are important for the writer sine increasingly a professonalzed craft. Fieldwork reali style tke on something of an ince i ieatifed not as natives, ofcourse, but a hn ee, training, academic affiliations, sts that legitimate access and i se, but as scholars with g and impersonal diseiplinary inquiry within the target culty spi S8BBes tha a good deal of what i by fieldwork authority ress chen Realise Tales and Becker, among others, falls to. stheis work a respectable and reason dein work Tok ey Snir what hs 1 narrator of realist tales poses as an im- z Bec misionaves,sdminstatos, out condtashed members ofthe culture themselves, passes sles objective data in a measured intellectual style Tuminated by pesonal bias, political goals, or moral Studied neutrality characterizes the realist tle ‘of course, been changes in realist tales over time. jographic writings fieldworkers often went to some tment that they were, in fac, doing science, albeit and chaotic seience, by using field data to both de- rd test socal theory." Thus matters ofthe reliability and va- rofthe data assumed some importance. More recently, with eile of, at least, the demise of positivist social theory and Importance of the problem of meaning, feldworkers likely to cover their claims of realism on the more erpretve expertise; ally that only one who has actually “been there talking to and living it up (or down) with the natives bly understand what the natives are about and presume it for those who have not been there, In both cases, ‘ot soaking up member meanings, the convention i WW thefel@workersunexplicated but assumed experience in ulture fo stand asthe basis for textual authoriy.* ionalized has experience become as the ineffable ethnography that fieldworkers rately say very much isely what experience in the field consist of, letting the fon stand for itself (e., "The X do this,” not “I saw the ‘Thus realist tales swallow up the fieldworker, and by Fann the text focuses almost solely on the sayings, doings, Ahinkings ofthe people studied. Materials ae orga- ing to topics and problems relevant to the feld- eeptual and disciplinary interests. The presence of the oak gated to very limited accounts of the conditions of {its location, length, research strategies, entrance proce- is information is given in prefaory remark, brief Bical segments clearly set off fiom the report, or theReals Tales Chapter Three gublest commeniary in footnotes. In shor, the dary i fiom the account. The body of the ethnography reads a iments about the people studied rather than what the ee saw or heard (or thought) about the people studied Typical Forms The sscond convention associated with reaict tales isa {ary syle focused on minute, sometimes precious, but tmundane details of everyday life among the people studied, Power of observation is often useful here because from the 2p cntatienton to detail come organizing precepts presented tener for such detail—rits, habits, practices, belief, and gs erally, ways of life. Move often than not, however, the Ga not from the fil! but from the academic specially ket Which the hearty fieldworker hails.” pat ofthe fat, dey and sometimes unbearably dull neg taba reali ethnographies is a result ofthis explicit fcaey the regular and often-observed activities ofthe group under Observations of the mundane are plugged into more-orles dard categories thought necessary within a subfield for descripsion (eg, family life, work lif, social networks, athe telations, kinship patterns, status systems, interaction ‘te. Occasional glimpses ofthe dramatic are allowed, but age in the form of exceptions or contrasts to the commonplace drive home the overwhelming presence of domesticated pa of thought and action among the people studied. Aside from the representative anecdote tossed out from time to time, litle i tl about the particular experiences of the people studi about the categories or institutions that are said to lives. eal ate not randomly acanged in a realist tale. They ace who is wear i ‘a “shabby, foul-smelling sort 4 character bate posg white hands that temble o- {orn craily, a dog is not simply a dog, but a tage, or jog who jumps on people and answers to the i oe get intimacy and establish presence (a know such things?). They ate often usedte te ccc into tne world ofthe people studied eco gece Ghai y and evocative readings are atta hen alia a pvided. The partcularistc and ordinary details ei ge hddworiers aber dicl, but as, Fae inion of one another, preset the “eal life” ofthe apy eeuing onthe everyay and, presumably, forme of seid clue, leno gntel and cmon at nage pices astute on the mae tha Eiicoort& ypca dog, atypia) mariage, a pica di or, more to the pont, 2 typical member ofthe cats 352 logical, if inferential, construct (Manning, 22) ply the dey ecncers f what Macs ad (1982) call “common denominator people.” The ac of the cul- st present accounts and explanations by members Pironaiis Oo pana Tt ace routine events. This is a touchy business and one I will con- [rb comsiesthrouhouttismonogaph. Fornow ts enough +onote that realist ethnographers are at Bai to produce theo ‘ve’ point of view. Extensive, clesely edited quotations cha ie readers that the views put forward imulate systematically and redundantly to demonstrate some pail ie realist tales, conveying to ed the fieldworker feels is important. Details ate in a sense precoded [BE not those ofthe Reldworker but are ‘he aunt EA in areal ethnography to serve a instances of something impor ae erate tec ght fo tant, usually a structural or procedural unit e., precept) This is particularly teue of corent wo sein ply and on fieldworker has “discovered” in the field (ox, mote recently, ihr el type ly, ae tig oy dm oped by way of “readings” taken in the feld).* ial framing goes into presenting. es panes ‘ee Realis tales also decry the abstract and celebrate the conte importantly, there are epistemologi reference, A vagrant in a realist tale is not simply a stock, 6Chapter Two reste Seif Met den rhe mje, Speen, honing en or ser ofa ah merece wen tct nee of thei ditnctive mca 2d nat fis ao evel he acount, pai, Fae at f th inthe natural and physical sere e NQ st Tales Kohwin wo, lt tem bea dieu a one tee eng (197) KeoreCatina 1961) and Lychee fal about el cence 24. Togs nahn cfc phieepy woul Lu {is seis fel the ol Diy Calan a Schur, Ro. Readsrctsed in th emegnceot on “ieee ti in socal though rated ost prominent, farular, prevalent, popular, fckiworkes think and da, graphic writing isthe realist co orca cccpation, «communi, : inpizabon, 0 roup with comn Sullivan, 1979; and ihe al tome ; eae cd asa set of volumes, @ scholarly 25, Tobe fa, theinerpretve approach snd accom single a0. ton of postivsm pce in te a ea Fen asain ofan ait (bol 2 ale a than the philosophic heads afsome : Y rats the elt te in dust hi Switch in the social science fon bal ee. On dpe are the comings and goings of membes tention has not pased unnoticed by sth im theoretical coverage of certain features 73~93), Of equal importance, thropology and socolegy that much ofthe et Gull and irelevat: ethnography as reduced Heel «eset cot of why the wt se ‘The result is an author-pr : td ning of an scl xe 9 sec Cec braced ns tks eit ph complaint aimed nat cepeensto Soc an ear cae hath Cotunbut Thess {808 fimly for the authenticity of the cultural rete limes sued to gh a ethopcehy ny Wy the text reat {1987 wes is dion phe ated a at teas fou convention hat mark al i nt fom, 2, ta Fckiworkers sometimes deam upto eneate 1 calgon work asa dnc product, diferent fom, : a a Fetion, journalism, or most critically, other fe phic reporting, These writing of repaid cn ff coune, soil ens, the result fhe nly ad entoussrugle opt ethnography on hele rare diced in cape 2. Moree, eh coe is currently undergoing slight-to-massive revi the criteria for what counts as a good iene bo Same ove time any moe than the coe Fe by these writings stay the same over ime. Nee ‘culture can, therefore, be settled once and That fis world face a dierent set of intellectual task sed pr thatthose who went fst Namely, they mutt cannes specify, and et Tain hat is already inown rather than simply sul afet 6Chapter Three rarely discussed by fieldworkers constructing realist tales. But as Geertz (1974) so persuasively argues, itis no onger adequate for a fieklworker to tell us what the native does day in and day out. We. ‘must now know what the native makes of allthis as well. This is something of a Gordian knot for fieldworkers, but, nonetheless, realist tales are incieasingly making tom for more displays of ‘members’ thoughts, theories, and world views than in times past. To do ethnography in the realist mode these days is to offer the petepective aswell as practices of the member of the culture. Un. like the first two conventions, however, techniques for doing this follow a number of contested formats. Daing descriptions by ‘orchestrating the voices of members ofthe culture is pethaps the ‘most common form, along with the extensive use of cultural slo. ans, clichés, and commonly heard, seting-specifc terms. Formal {echniques have also been developed to help shape the native’ Point of view into something reportable. Ethnoscience is one Popularmethod (Tyler, 1969; Spradley, 1979) Sthnomethodologi- cal enactments of sense-making practices of members of a culture is another (Garfinkel, 1965; Leiter, 1980; Lynch, 1985). Both are controversial ‘The Boasian tradition of relist ethnography offers the native’ point of view by means of translating the stories and myths ofthe ‘members of the culture. When single informants tll theit own stories, however, a degree of suspense and improvisation sneaks into the realist tale through the tales of others, Rosaldo (1986b) notes that by avoiding the composite accourts, retelling infor ‘ant stories allow highly personalized and unique experiences to enter into the realist tale. This is, of course, a breach of realist ‘conventions, and such breaches are typically few and far be- ‘teen, introduced perhaps to keep readers awake and the realist tale alive. What, precisely, might be called the natives point of view is indeed subject to much debate in fieldwork circles. But rest 35- sured, realist ethnographies all claim to have located it and tamed it suicientl so that it ean be represented in the fieldwork report. ‘Whether this is done by simply allowing some natives to have their say (through the author’ pen) orby various formal elicitation techniques, indigenous meaning systems have claimed a place in realist tales. In a sense the debate concerning the natives point of 50 Realise Tales view now turns on how such @ perspective is to be rendered in a text rather than on whether or not it belongs in one. Observation in this sense has given way to interpretation, Interpretive Omnipotence ‘The final convention characterizing realist tales to be discussed here deals with the no-nonsense ways in which feldworkers pre- sent their representations and aecounts. In brief, the ethnog- sapher has the final word ou how the culture isto be interpreted and presented. The matter is put candidly by Malinowski, who, reflecting in his diaries on his feelings of ownership over the Tiobrianders, wrote, “It is 1 who will describe ther or create them” (quoted in Stocking, 1983: 101). Such a godlike pose toward those one studies is now for tunately rare, but equally rate are ethnographers who question aloud (or in print) whether they got it right, or whether there might be yet another, equally useful way to study, characterize, display, read, or otherwise understand the accumulated feld ma. terials. In fat a distinguishing mark of ethnographies outside the realist mode isthe troublesome worries the ethnographers them- selves make public regarding the accuracy, breadth, typicality, oF generality of their own cultural representations and interpreta. tions. Self-reRection and doubt are hardly central matters in real. ist tales ‘The convention of interpretive omnipotence works in several Ways. Scmetimes a cultural description is tied to a theoretical Problem of interest tothe fieldworker disciplinary community (or increasingly, subcommunity). Field data, in such cases, ate put forth as acts marshaled in accordance with the light they may shed om the generic topic of interest and the fieldworker’ stand on the matter, What Clarke (1975) calls “didactic deadpan’ is the style that prevails in these ethnographies, in which the interpreta- tions of the author are made compelling by the use ofa string of abstract definitions, axioms, and theorems that work logically to rovide explanation, Each element of the theory is carefully illus. ttated by empirical field data. The form is aseptic and imper- Sonal, but it is convincing insofar as an audience is willing to rant power to the theory.® Such power is enhanced, of course, ifthe theoretical system, 31‘Chapter Three stems fiom honored and respectable figures and intellectual trad. tions—if it isan example of Manan, Duttheimiaa, Freudian, Weberian, or Saussurean thought and their inticate, if unfathom, able, connections. Selective packaging of Feld dats to exemplify generalized constructs is a standard practice, eventhough the pre, ise empirieal situations in which the field data ate developed are Pethaps fa less coherent or obvious than the concepls they serve to illustrate. The dividing up ofa society or an oxganization inte its functional systemic, symboli, dramatic, or athe analytically required elements, as dictated by an acclaimed theory, allows the humble fieldworker to stand on the shoulders of giants land see farther) by using wellsteceived constructs as receptacles for Field data, Another fashionable device useful for establishing interpretive redibility work in almest the opposite fashion. Rather than ely. ing on tall theoretical ancestors, the fieldworker rests his case on the members themselves. The situations that comprise the Feld data are presented conventionally asthe events of everyday life ‘These situations, along with generalized renditions ofthe natives point of view, are collapsed into explanatory constructs, so that the fieldworkers analysis overlaps with, iit does not become iden tical to, the terms and constructs used to describe the events, A final device is suggested by Ceertz (1973), who argued for the jettisoning of “experience-dstant” concepts in favor of those that ate “experience-near.” This signals something of a recent trend in realist tales: working with theoretical frameworks drawn, from phenomenology, face-to-face interaction, discourse analy. Sis, symbolic interactionism, semiotics, and ‘other “theory of meaning” approaches. Grand theory, concerned with collective behavior, cultural function, socal structure, or historical change, gives way loa communicative-interpretive theory, eoneerned wath hhow people achieve common understandings. These theories are presumably much closer to the fieldworkers reach (and no less ‘eneral) than the social system theories that held the interest of « Previous generation of Feldworkers. ‘The point, however, tums not so much on the exact basis for claiming interpretive authority as on the mere fat that itis claimed. Realist tales are not multivocal texts where an event is given meaning fist in one way, than another, and then still an. 32 Realist Tales x. Rather 2 relist tale offers one reading and culls its facts refully to support that reading. Little can be discovered in such is that has not been put there by the fieldworker as a way of ting 2 particular interpretation arcu and Cushman (1982) suggest that these shetorial fea- of ethnic faph ad article forms in which so much elhnography appene fod. There simply ie not space (or perhaps interest forthe underanalyzed or problematic. Only enough data are allowed in to support the analysis. Early ethnographies often appeared as ‘ultvolume texts worked up to account forthe entirety of given culture (partly as a way of demonstrating and building authority, dplaying vast knowledge of a previously unknown culture. and in keeping with the scholatly fashions of the day). Because of theie length and leisurely style, a massive amount of material could be included in them. Malinowski (1935), for example, put forth a good deal of material he must have regarded as beyond even his len since he never even tied to interpret its significance. Boas (1973) was even more ofan ethnographic nudist, preferring to dis. play, not analyze, his collections of cultural materials. "* Current ethnographies are most frequently constructed by fieldworkers who make ‘comparatively short visits to the field, con- fine themselves to highly selected aspects of the culture studied, and make tightly focused interpretations of ‘definitionally-specific ‘topics. This is partly a way of ‘meeting the demands of contempo- ray academic cares, studying a relatively “thin” ealtore=-as io ‘often the case when the target group is organized at a level well below that ‘of a society- contributing to small, ever-splintering subdisciplines and applied specialities in the social sciences, Ine deed, in much recent work, as ‘Tyler (1986) suggests, a reader may find it hard to avoid getting the impression that an ambitious fieldworker is imposing a rather narrow and crude portrait on a reaznably subtle people Finally I should ete that rarely is interpretive omnipotence ‘candidly or overtly claimed in reais tales. It is simply a matter of closing of or nailing down an interpretation without allowing a temative views to creep into view. The narrator speaks for the ‘t0up studied as a passive observer who roams ‘imperialistically Actors the setting to tell of events that happen in this way or that 8Chapter Three For example, my own writings show “the police” doing, saying, and thinking things. Rately do identifable individual natives speak of such things except in notoriously supportive quotes, Footnotes and theoretical asides are orchestrated to support a par. ticular interpretation, and when other views ate presented they are given short shrift; they are merely foils representing mistaken and foolish perspectives, Realism in ethnography is a singulatly splendid thing. Producing Realist Tales It is important not to judge realist tales too harshly. 1 am con: cerned here with writing conventions, not with substantive of {necessarily} theoretical ones, Realist ethrography has a long and by-and-large worthy pedigree. Writers in this tradition have ere- ated masterpieces that have lived very long lives. To subject the ‘ting to scrutiny is not to say itis false or wrong. In fact the ‘durability of some realist workindicates that despite the invisibility, high-science stance, or interpretive omnipotence of the author, the tale is fundamentally sound. When one considers the rapid promotion and demotion of theoretical works (and their authors) in the social sciences, many a realist tale appears as a rock of Gibraltar in an otherwise stormy sea, Corsider, for example, the realist tales of Malinowski (1922), Evans-Pritchard (1940), Firth (1936), Whyte (1955), Leach (1954), Gouldner (1954), Dalton (1959), or Becker et al. (1961). While some of these works may seem a bit clumsy today, theie authors have nonetheless produced Powerful work which remains, decades later, engaging, vivid, stimulating, and somehow stil tc." Let me now provide some examples of realist tales from my. own work as a way of showing how the conventions discussed above work in cold print. Unlike the masters just mentioned, I can make no claims about my examples being insightful, con- vincing, or particularly well conceived snatches of realist work. do claim, however, they are representative of the realist style — Particularly a it is employed by sociologists of a symbolic inter- actionist slant. My excuse for presenting these examples here is thal since self-criticism and doubt mark the ethnographic tales discussed in the following chapters, it makes good sense to begin 34 Realist Tales with some immodest realist examples of my own on which to later lect." vtfeein with several excepts on method and go on oa substan. tive tale dealing with sergeants in an American police agency. The ramblings on method are included not only as necessary back- yund materials, but more importantly, as rather ordinary illus trations of how ethnographers represent their own activities in the field and carefully segregate these representations from the reais account ite. (The) analysis that follows was based on the observation of ‘novice policemen in situ. The study was conducted in Union City (a pseudonyrn) over a nine-month period in 1969-70. Ap- proximately three months of this time were spent asa fully par- ticipating member of one Union City Recruit Class. Following the formal training phase of the initiation process, my fully pare ticipating role was modified. As a civilian, I spent six months riding in patrol units operated by a recruit and his FTO (Field Training Officer, charged with imputing “street sense” into the neophyte) asa backseat observer. From the outset, my role 4 researcher-qua-researcher was made explicit. To masquer- ade as a regular police recruit would not only have been prob- lematic but would have raised a number of ethical questions as Well... . The conversational data [are] drawn primarily from ‘naturally occurring encounters with persons in the police do- ‘main. . . . While formal interviews were conducted with some, the bulk of the data contained here arose from far less struc. tured situations. (Van Maanen, 1973) Several realist conventions are at play here and are worthy of ‘ote, Firs, there is the already- mentioned severing ofthe method description fiom the ethnographic materials that follow in the text. The excerpt appeared in small print, cleanly set of from the ‘est of the article under the title “Methods.” Second, whatever ‘xistential features of the research world that surround the field- Worker in the setting are banished from its representation, The Felaworker is required by realist conventions to stand before what Punch (1986) calls the “bar of disciplinary standards” asa sober, Civil, legal, dry, serious, dedicated, straightforward transcriber of 35Chapter Three the world studied. Finally, since feldworkers regard their prev Gree and techniques as potentially tainting the “natural state” of the studied sene, they must take care to invoke the widely ay Proved means of neutralizing such threats. Paticipation in rove tine actives, time in the field, attention to spontaneous, over heard, ordinary, natural conversation are all used inthe excerpt In a later publication, | amended the previous method note ta include this: Azain realist conventions hold, although there ate some addi- tional erypic remarks that expand the method. Notably, ancestor {cultaral anthropologists are now invoked to provide furthe legit ‘macy and a mandate forthe fieldwork. A few more-or-less tech, Bical terms also appear, such as “paticipantbservation” snd “ey informants," thus embedding the fieldwork within a reson ably common set of astumplions (held by both readers and aoe thor) as to its good form. Consider too that the informal and pence posibly inaccurate recounting ofthe conversational data to be Featured inthe report are casually mentioned as something of SRafethought. Lonically, the pasing mention ofa alibi or ‘wo may help to establish the fieldworker’ credibility given the 56 Realise Tales ‘enormous prctentions of the realist enterprise. Without some slight defect the fieldwotker might appear too perfect and thus strain the readers good faith, Asa final method note, consider the following Johnny-jump- up footnote tacked onto the station house sergeant materials to follow. In this section, I draw on my own participant-observation workin large, urban police agency (for methodological details, see Van Maanen, 19786). I consider the agency a rather ordi. nary, unspectacular police department within which such gen. eral organizational practices can be easly investigated. I should ‘ote however that while I believe partiipant-observation pro- duces some of the most interesting and evocative accounts of organizational life to be found in the literature, it also suffers ‘from several significant flaws. In particular, the absence, in ‘many works, of any consistent analytic framework has guaran. teed much participant-observation work marginal status within organization theory. For all the Chandleresque prose and for al the authenticity and close detail, participantobservation is but 4 method in need of supplemental procedures. In the example of the text, T give testimony to the dangers of participant. cbservation by omitting any depiction of the larger social, po- litical, and economic context within which police work is con. ‘ducted. (Van Maanen, 1981a) While stretching the boundaries of realist presentations, this example, like the two preceding ones, still indexes fieldwork Practice in highly conventional ways (i.e, refering to separate ‘method discussions outside the text, use of in-group fieldwork terms, and framing the work topically in terms ofa search for par= ticular instances of the general). Where it departs om tradition When readers zre asked to refrain from making too much of the forthcoming description, Presumably other perspectives count in ‘matters described beyond those of the police as put forth by the author. As we shall later see, when the gence itself is questioned or ‘thnography itself becomes part of larger canvas, realist conven. tions have slightly slipped from view and we may then be dealing With other forms ofthe ethnographic tale 7 :(Chapter Three ‘The last exhibit of realist work | present here is ofa substantive: sort. The excerpts an unpublished one, although it dosely corre. sponds to the lengthier published versions of the same materials (sce Van Maznen, 1982, 1983a). My excuse for using the un. published version is merely that it is short and relatively self Contained, and thus spates the reader some of the more punish. ing displays of realist writing, such as run-on details, too-clever phrasings, pretentious associations with grand ideas, and various stage-setting devices intended to perk the interests of fellow field. workers in the police studies crowd ‘Hats-on Harry, Off-at-Seven George, Handle-It-Yourself Fred, and The-Eternal-Flame ‘Edward Who-Never-Goes-Out Among first-level supervisors in American police agencies are Patrol sergeants. These men (and they are overwhelmingly ‘men) differentiate their position from those of patrolmen on the assumptive grounds that they are “responsible for the ac- tivities of patrolmen” whereas patrolmen are “responsible for the activities taking place on their beats.”” This seemingly clear-cut contrast is pregnant with operational difficulty, for it is apparent to anyone spending more than a trivial amount of time within large police departments that “being responsible for the men’” can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, under a bewildering set of circumstances. It is by no means clear what it is that can properly be called supervision, leadership, man- agement, or direction within these organizations, Yet tasks do get performed, calls answered, budgets drawn up and ex pended, reports written, and, in fact, all members of the orga- ‘nization would give ready testimony that the three stripes worn, ‘on a sergeant’s sleeve are indeed significant. This is simply to say that chaos does not permeate police agencies—although, on occasion, such a beast does enter into the picture. Since there is mot chaos, then, some sort of order does sustain a precarious existence. One way in which such order can be described is to examine the more-or-less routine activities ofa set of differentiated members of the organization. Se Realist Tales and note how they maintain relations with others who contrast with them in rank, status, or any other organizationally rele- vant way. Space does not permit lengthy analysis, but in bare detail I will explore some activities associated with the organi- zational role Ihave labeled the “Station House Sergeant.” This will bea brief exploration. My intent is mainly to highlight the sole rather than to exhaust it. The main preoccupation of the station house sergeant is to avoid entanglements in the incident-specific world of policing. From a carefully built-up perspective on work-a-day duties, the station-house sergeant belicves this job is w “efficiently runt groups” rather than to “effectively police a given district.” In the words of one such sergeant, “my job is to coordinate what the troops are up to because legally I can't tell em what to do.”” What this veteran sergeant alludes to in this remark is an artived-at interpretation for his official activites. He is signal- ing a style of supervision characterized by its relative uncon- ‘cem for the always siruationally defined rolice task. The style has more in common with styles of the nonpatrol supervisory and administrative ranks in the agency than with those of other ‘patrol sergeants or, more critically, patrolmen. Whatever oppor- tunities exist for the station house sergeant to become involved in particular police-citizen matters are studiously avoided. It is, in short, an administrative role that is sought, and it is by and large an administrative role that is played. This, of course, begs the question of what activities could be said to satisfy the administrative tastes of the station house ser- ‘eant. Consider the following activites as examples of the ser- Beants’ use of space inside and outside the station house. AAs the label implies, station house sergeants can be located ‘ost readily in the station house. The amount of time the ser- ‘Seants spend on the streets largely depends on what the ser- Seants deem proper reasons for being on the street. These rea- Sons are few. They respond to the so-called “hot” or “trouble” ‘alls as dispatched from central communications. Such calls Provide occaions not only to observe their charges in action and. be aware of any peculiar occurrences relevant to squad activity, but also to exercise supervisory prerogatives such as assigning 9