Police administrators will find grounds for both satisfaction and concern in the findings of this survey. The public believes police are both polite and helpful -- quite a tribute when one considers the largely regulatory role of the police. Although the perceived honesty of police remains unchanged, there has been a substantial decline in public respect for police over the last two decades. Some agencies are better at satisfying their respective publics than are others. Police administrators need to reflect on public perception of honesty; if the perception is low, legitimacy is affected accordingly. Negative responses were high to the question regarding police response to requests for assistance, although this may be due partly to the possibility that public expectations of police assistance may be unreasonable. It may be useful for police trainers and supervisors to reduce the scope of such perceptions by members of the public. 3 notes, 5 figures, 3 tables.