This thesis is investigated through quantitative analysis of the determinants of municipal police force pending in U.S. cities of 25,000 or more population. Newspaper reporting on the police and issues of police-minority relations in a selected group of the study's cities adds depth to the analysis by providing the public perspective on policing in various locations and time periods. The investigation compares reporting early and late in the decade and assesses changes in perspective as national attention shifted from law and order and the containment of black unrest to other policy issues and new minorities such as Hispanic Americans. The newspaper analysis indicates that during the 1970's a new awareness of the role of the police developed on the local level. There was a recognition of the stress that officers are under, their lack of training for the major interpersonal crises with which they deal, and the generally inadequate provision most departments make for stress treatment of officers. There is considerable evidence regarding the mobilization of police resources in periods and locations of intergroup tension and conflict. Chapter tables, 380 references, subject index.