INFORMATION IS PROVIDED ON THE CITIES IN WHICH THE DEPARTMENTS ARE LOCATED, DEPARTMENT STAFF, AND DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION. BOTH DESCRIPTIVE AND OPINION DATA WERE COLLECTED. POLICE STAFF, CITY OFFICIALS, AND CITIZENS WERE INTERVIEWED ON THE GOALS OF POLICING, POLICE RELATIONS WITH THE COMMUNITY, AND THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE DEPARTMENT. THE DATA COLLECTION PERIOD WAS 1972 TO 1973. A DESCRIPTION OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENTS STUDIED AND THE DATA COLLECTION METHOD IS FOLLOWED BY BASELINE DATA ON THE CITIES, POLICE MANPOWER AND EXPENDITURES, THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO THE CITY, MANPOWER DECISIONS, POLICE ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT, PERSONNEL CHARACTERISTICS, PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, AND OPINIONS ABOUT POLICE OPERATION. A METHOD OF COMBINING BASELINE DATA TO PROVIDE DESCRIPTIONS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF DEPARTMENTS - A TYPOLOGY OF POLICE SETTINGS - IS THEN OUTLINED. TWO WAYS OF COMBINING DATA ARE PRESENTED AS EXAMPLES - THE CITY TYPOLOGY AND THE OPINION TYPOLOGY. THE CITY TYPOLOGY IS BASED ON DISTINCT 'CLUSTERS' OF CORRELATED CITY VARIABLES (THE LARGE HIGH-COVERAGE DEPARTMENT, THE EXPANDING CITY, THE WHITE COLLAR, AND THE HIGH MINORITY). THE OPINION TYPOLOGY IS ALSO BASED ON FOUR CLUSTERS. THEY INCLUDE THE LARGE HIGH-COVERAGE DEPARTMENT CLUSTER USED IN THE CITY TYPOLOGY PLUS CHANGE READINESS: POLICE DEPARTMENT AND POLICE DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP, CHANGE READINESS: FOLLOWERSHIP, AND CHIEF SERVICE ORIENTATION. APPENDED MATERIALS INCLUDE COMMENTS ON SOURCES OF BIAS IN DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, CORRELATIONS AMONG CITY CHARACTERISTICS, AND A TYPOLOGY ANALYSIS.