In order to work effectively in a democratic society, police agencies need the support of citizens. Police agencies have been increasingly concerned about their relationship with the public since the 1970's, particularly regarding relations with minority communities. Given the continuing importance of race/ethnicity on public opinion toward the police, the current study examined the impact of race/ethnicity on satisfaction with the police in a small northeastern city. Questionnaire data were collected from 232 citizens via door-to-door solicitation by college students, who randomly selected houses and queried the occupants regarding their willingness to complete the questionnaire. Variables under consideration included citizen perceptions of safety, overall or global satisfaction with police (versus specific satisfaction), the origin of most citizen knowledge of police (media, friends and family, personal experience), and race (White, African-American, and Hispanic). Results of statistical analyses indicated that Hispanics had the lowest global satisfaction with police while Whites had the highest global satisfaction. These findings remained significant after controlling for contextual variables and for specific satisfaction with police. Despite the low satisfaction noted among Hispanics, there was an overall high level of both global and specific satisfaction with the police within this city in general. The findings suggest that policies designed to modify the nature of police-citizen contact might help improve attitudes toward police within minority communities. Tables, references