The study found that 76 percent of the women who had experienced intimate-partner violence in the past year that was not life threatening had not had police contact in the past year. Forty-six percent of the women who had experienced very severe or life-threatening violence in the past year had not had police contact in that year. The abused women most likely to have had police contact in the past year were those who had killed their abusive partner; only 22 percent of these women had not had police contact in the past year. The findings suggest that battered women seek the help of police when they fear for their lives and have exhausted all other options for stopping their victimization. The majority of women (63 percent) who had police contact reported that the police were "helpful" as measured by the arrest of the abuser and feeling protected. Women who had contact with the police were significantly more likely to have sought help from an agency or counselor, suggesting that police are important "gatekeepers" for linking women with agencies and counselors who can help them. Twenty-eight percent of the women reported that the police were "not helpful," indicating they felt demeaned by police comments or that the police did very little to manage the abuser in a way that helped the women feel protected. Data were obtained from a sample (n=500) of battered women (69 percent African-American and 21.3 percent Latina), as well as a sample of abused women who had either killed their abuser or were killed by him (n=63). 8 tables, 4 notes, 40 references, and appended instruments and scales