POLICE OFFICERS IN THE THAMESIDE AREA WERE INTERVIEWED, AND ADDITIONAL DATA WERE SECURED THROUGH FIELD OBSERVATIONS AND REVIEWS OF INTERNAL RECORDS. WHAT EMERGED WAS A PICTURE OF POLICE OFFICES BOUND BY A SET OF IMPLICIT AND UNEXPLICATED UNDERSTANDINGS THAT MIGHT BE CALLED THE 'COMMONSENSE REALITY OF POLICING'--WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS AND TAKES FOR GRANTED. THREE ASPECTS OF THIS ORGANIZATIONAL REALITY ARE THE SHARED ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF POLICE WORK, THE OCCUPATIONAL CULTURE, AND TASK DEPENDENCY. THESE POTENTIALLY BINDING FORCES OF SHARED EXPERIENCE ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY A BASIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL INTEGRATION AND A SOURCE OF SHARED MISUNDERSTANDINGS, AND THIS AMBIGUOUS BASIS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL ACTION AND THE MEANS BY WHICH IT IS ACCOMPLISHED (I.E., RULES) CREATE THE CONTEXT WITHIN WHICH THE TWO PRINCIPAL ORGANIZATIONAL SEGMENTS INTERACT--SENIOR OFFICERS AND CONSTABLES. SENIOR OFFICERS SEE THEIR CONNECTION TO THE ORGANIZATION THROUGH THE IDEOLOGY OF SCIENTIFIC POLICE ADMINISTRATION; THEIR WORLD IS ORGANIZED FROM A NATURAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE LEGITIMACY OF THEIR POSITION WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION. CONSTABLES, HOWEVER, CANNOT DRAW UPON A FORMALIZED IDEOLOGY OF POLICING, AND FOR THEM, THE LEGITIMACY OF POLICE AUTHORITY IS UNQUESTIONED AND ASSUMED RATHER THAN DISCUSSED; THEIR OBEDIENCE TO SENIOR OFFICERS IS CONTEXTUAL RATHER THAN CATEGORICAL. GIVEN THE TWO SEGMENTS AND THEIR VERY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON ORGANIZATIONAL ACTION AND THE STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF POLICE WORK, RULES CAN ONLY FUNCTION AS RESOURCES FOR ORGANIZING AND RATIONALIZING A GIVEN CONTINGENCY. THIS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE WORK EXERCISES IMPORTANT INFLUENCES ON THE NATURE OF COLLEAGUAL RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE POLICE ORGANIZATION. IF CONSTABLES POLICE BY THE BOOK RATHER THAN BY COMMONSENSE, THEY ARE LIKELY TO BE INEFFECTIVE INVESTIGATORS AND PUBLIC SERVANTS. LIKEWISE, IF SENIOR OFFICERS POLICE THE RANKS BY THE BOOK, FAILING TO REALIZE THAT STREET LEVEL CONTIGENCIES MITIGATE AGAINST A CONSTABLE'S STRICT ADHERENCE TO PROPER PROCEDURE, THEY CREATE UNREST WITHIN THE RANKS. REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (KBL)