PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION BY THE RESEARCHER TOOK PLACE OVER 650 HOURS IN 81 DAYS IN THE ONLY POLICE STATION OF A MIDDLE-SIZED TOWN IN SOUTHWEST GERMANY. ONE HUNDRED COMPLAINTS WERE OBSERVED, AND ALTHOUGH THIS IS ACKNOWLEDGED TO BE A SMALL NUMBER, THE CASES ARE CONSIDERED REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE POLICE STATION INVOLVED. IT WAS OBSERVED THAT THE POLICE REFUSED TO TAKE ACTION ON ABOUT ONE-SIXTH OF ALL CRIMES REPORTED. MOST (69%) OF THE REPORTED CRIMES WERE AGAINST PROPERTY, FOLLOWED BY OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON (11%). POLICE RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS WAS OBSERVED TO BE DEPENDENT PRIMARILY ON TWO FACTORS -- THE SEVERITY OF THE OFFENCE REPORTED AND THE SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS OF THE COMPLAINANT AS EVIDENCED BY HIS OR HER APPEARANCE AND DEMEANOR. INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED IN THE SAME TOWN WHERE OBSERVATION WAS DONE. TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX PERSONS OVER 14 YEARS OF AGE WERE INTERVIEWED. ONE PART OF THE SAMPLE CONSISTED OF KNOWN COMPLAINANTS, THE OTHER PART CONSISTED OF INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN SELECTED AT RANDOM. THE PURPOSE OF THE INTERVIEWS WAS TO ASSESS THE ATTITUDES OF THE PUBLIC TOWARD THE POLICE, COMPLAINT-LAYING AND CRIME. INTERVIEWS SHOWED THAT THE PUBLIC'S FEAR OF CRIMES AND CRIMINALS WAS SLIGHT IN THE TOWN, AND ATTITUDES TOWARD THE POLICE WERE POSITIVE. PERSONS OF LOWER SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, HOWEVER, WERE MORE LIKELY TO ASSERT THE DISCRIMINATORY ASPECT OF POLICE RESPONSE THAN THOSE OF HIGHER SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT PERSONS WITH LOW SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ARE FAR LESS SUCCESSFUL IN GAINING HELP FROM THE POLICE THAN ARE PERSONS OF HIGHER SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. IT IS FURTHER INTERPRETED THAT THE ACTION OF THE POLICE IS DETERMINED BY THEIR OWN PRIORITIES REGARDING WHICH CRIMES SHOULD BE PROSECUTED. REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (RCB)