The report presents data on rating of the local police, public contacts with the police, victims’ contact with the police, and complaints against the police. Key points and findings are: (1) 81 percent of people in the 1998 BCS said that their local police did a very or fairly good job (levels of confidence have remained virtually unchanged throughout the 1990’s); (2) public confidence in the police was highest in London and the East, followed by the South, where nationally, confidence was lower in inner city areas; (3) just over half (52 percent) of those interviewed in 1998 had at least one contact with the police in the previous year, 31 percent had been contacted by the police, and 37 percent had contacted the police themselves; (4) the figures for those stopped by the police while in a car or on a motorcycle (14 percent) or while on foot (3 percent) have remained relatively constant throughout the 1990s, however young men aged 16 to 29 were particularly likely to be stopped, whether on foot or in a vehicle; (5) in 63 percent of incidents reported to the police, victims were satisfied with the police response (levels of satisfaction have remained at a similar level throughout the 1990s); and (6) a fifth (20 percent) of all respondents could remember being annoyed by a police officer’s behavior during the previous five years. Of these, a fifth, or 2 percent of the full sample made a formal complaint. References, tables, and charts