The combination of street crime, public disorder, and decay in cities and towns in the United States noticeably accelerated in the 1970's as middle-class workers followed the departure of manufacturing and other semiskilled jobs. Court decisions that decriminalized minor offenses such as public drunkenness and vagrancy and the deinstitutionalization of persons with mental illness added to the problems. The powerlessness of traditional policing methods against the consequences of the escalating street chaos has created crisis for urban police organizations. In the process of applying community policing problemsolving strategies toward the causes of crime and disorder, police organizations are finding that they must address a host of noncrime issues, as well as some inaction of some community actors perceived by police and others to contribute or facilitate the problems. In doing so, community police organizations learn that they must expand their domain to include the enforcement of social responsibility. Notes and 51 references (Author abstract modified)