AN OVERVIEW AND HISTORY OF DEXTER PROVIDE A PERSPECTIVE ON THE POLITICAL FACTORS THAT MOTIVATED THE VILLAGE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF AN OFFER BY THE WASHTENAW COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT TO CONTRACT FOR PROVISION OF POLICE SERVICES TO COMMUNITITES WITHIN ITS JURISDICTION. TO EVALUATE THE DECISION, A SURVEY WAS TAKEN TO DETERMINE CITIZEN SATISFACTION WITH POLICE SERVICES BEFORE AND AFTER THE CONTRACTING, AS WELL AS THE RELATIVE VALUE PLACED ON VARIOUS POLICE ACTIVITIES BY CITIZENS. POLICE ACTIVITY DATA AND SURVEY FINDINGS WERE USED TO DEVELOP QUANTITATIVE MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE. PERFORMANCE LEVELS BEFORE AND AFTER CONTRACTING WERE DETERMINED AND COMPARED TO OPERATING COSTS. CITIZEN OPINION DATA WERE USED TO IDENTIFY NONQUANTIFIABLE COSTS AND BEFEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH FORM OF POLICE SERVICE. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT DEXTER'S DECISION TO CONTRACT WAS ADVANTAGEOUS IN TERMS OF BOTH COST AND QUALITY OF PERFORMANCE. IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS FOR POLICE CONTRACTING IN OTHER COMMUNITIES ARE DISCUSSED, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ARE OFFERED. SUPPORTING DATA ARE INCLUDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)