This presentation is one of a series offered by the U.S. Department of Justice on “research in progress.” It presents preliminary findings about police departments’ implementation of Compstat programs. Compstat is described as “computer statistics meetings.” There are seven elements of Compstat: mission clarification, internal accountability, data-driven problem identification and assessment, effective problem-solving tactics, geographical organization of operational command, organizational flexibility, and external accountability. In order to assess the extent to which police departments across the country are implementing Compstat programs, three methodologies were utilized: a national survey, short site visits, and in-depth site visits. Presented findings were only from the national survey, which had a response rate of 530 completed questionnaires. The survey asked three basic questions. First, the researchers wanted to know how widespread Compstat programs were and who had adopted such programs. Second, they were curious about which Compstat components were most widely adopted and which components were most difficult to implement. Third, the researchers asked whether Compstat departments differed significantly from non-Compstat departments in terms of their core elements. Their results indicated that Compstat programs had been widely implemented across the United States, with 33 percent having already implemented Compstat programs and another 26 percent planning to implement such a program in the near future. The results concerning which components of Compstat were more widely adopted indicated that 70 percent of departments implemented data-driven problem identification and assessment, 68 percent implemented internal accountability, and another 68 percent implemented mission clarification. Only 20 percent implemented effective problem-solving. Finally, the researchers found that departments who implemented Compstat programs differed from those that did not in their internal accountability, their mission clarification, and their data-driven problem identification and assessment. The researchers concluded that one reason Compstat programs had been so widely implemented was because this program did not challenge the traditional quasi-military style of policing. Police departments were able to implement technologically innovative programs without disrupting traditional police hierarchy.