A TOTAL OF 23 SEPARATE PROJECTS COSTING $23,316,050 WERE EVALUATED BETWEEN FEBRUARY 1976 AND MARCH 1977 TO DETERMINE IMPACT ON TOTAL CRIME, IMPACT ON INVESTIGATIVE CAPABILITIES OF THE DEPARTMENTS IN WHICH THEY WERE LOCATED, THEIR CAPABILITIES AS INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEMS, KINDS OF ACTIVITIES PERFORMED, AND IMPLEMENTATION. ONSITE INVESTIGATIONS FOUND WIDE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEORETICAL CONCEPT OF THE SPECIAL UNIT AND ACTUAL OPERATION. IN SOME INSTANCES, THE THEORETICAL CONCEPT HAD LITTLE RELATIONSHIP TO THE ACTUAL LOCAL NEED. IN OTHER INSTANCES, LOCAL DEPARTMENTS TRIED TO TAILOR THEIR NEEDS TO THE THEORETICAL CONCEPT AND FELT GUILTY WHEN THE TWO DID NOT AGREE. GENERALLY, IT WAS FELT THAT PERFORMANCE WAS LESS THAN EXPECTED BECAUSE GOALS WERE NOT CLEARLY DEFINED AT THE BEGINNING OF A PROJECT, LOCAL NEEDS WERE NOT FULLY CONSIDERED IN PROJECT DESIGN, AND LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS WERE NOT LARGE ENOUGH TO UTILIZE A SINGLE-PURPOSE SPECIAL UNIT. IN GENERAL, THE LOCAL DEPARTMENTS WOULD HAVE PREFERRED MULTIPURPOSE UNITS WHICH COULD FUNCTION AS NEEDED. IT WAS ALSO FOUND THAT THE SPECIAL UNITS WERE NOT WELL INTEGRATED INTO THE DEPARTMENT AS A WHOLE AND LACKED SUPPORT. EVALUATION WAS ALSO HINDERED BECAUSE THE PURPOSE OF A SATURATION PATROL UNIT IS TO REDUCE CRIME, WHILE THE AIM OF A SURVEILLANCE UNIT IS A LONG-TERM REDUCTION BY APPREHENDING CRIMINALS IN THE ACT OF COMMITTING A CRIME. THUS, THERE MAY BE NO SHORT-TERM REDUCTION. DATA COLLECTED, HOWEVER, DID NOT PROVE ADEQUATE TO EVALUATE THESE DIFFERENT GOALS. THESE FINDINGS RAISE BASIC IMPLICATIONS WHICH GO BEYOND OPERATION AND EVALUATION OF SPECIAL POLICE UNITS. FOR FUTURE PROJECTS OF ANY TYPE, THERE MUST BE GREATER ATTENTION DEVOTED TO SITE PREPARATION AND DESIGN OF THE PROJECT, MORE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND EVALUATION DURING THE EARLY MONTHS, AND MORE INTEGRATION OF THE SPECIAL PROJECT INTO THE SITUATION AS A WHOLE. A BIBLIOGRAPHY IS INCLUDED.