They have accelerated communications within and among police departments, facilitated information searches, reduced officer workloads, improved report and warrant writing procedures, enhanced statistical analysis, and had a generally positive effect on the way law enforcement agencies perform their duties. Respondents to a recent poll identified nine major areas of law enforcement influenced by computers: recordkeeping, statistical analysis, criminal investigations, dispatching, report generation, interdepartmental communications, traffic enforcement operations, accident reconstruction, and print matching. A primary reason computers are not used adequately by some police departments, especially small ones, relates to budget limitations. An alternative to high cost is regionalization, data sharing with other area jurisdictions via networking schemes. Another way police departments can save money is to write or modify their own software. Evidence indicates that computers lessen police officer workloads and free them for other duties. One of the biggest benefits computers provide is immediate access to information for patrol officers. As data bases expand and technology leads to upgraded, more cost-effective systems, law enforcement agencies will increase productivity in the administrative and investigative areas.