DATA WERE GLEANED BY OBSERVING PATROLS AND SURVEYING A SAMPLE OF 40 AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT (AIM) MEMBERS PLUS A RANDOM SAMPLE OF 44 NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENTS. THE PROJECT BEGAN AS A FOOT PATROL; ABOUT 20 MEN, WOMEN, AND TEENAGERS OBSERVED ACTIVITY ON THE MAIN STREET OF THE NEIGHBORHHOD DURING WEEKEND NIGHTS WATCHING POLICE SQUAD CAR ACTIVITY AND ARRANGING HOME TRANSPORTATION FOR INDIANS WHO WERE DRUNK. OCCASIONALLY PATROLS BROKE UP FIGHTS, LOOKED FOR MISSING TEENAGERS, OR INTERVENED IN OTHER SITUATIONS INVOLVING INDIANS. FOOT PATROLS WERE REPLACED BY CAR PATROLS IN THE FIRST WINTER. INITIALLY, THE POLICE HAD POSITIVE ATTITUDES TOWARD THE PATROLS AND FREQUENTLY TURNED DRUNKS OVER TO PATROLLERS. WHEN INCIDENTS OF POLICE BRUTALITY AND DISCRIMINATION CAUSED FUROR IN THE COMMUNITY AND THE PRESS, PATROL ACTIVITY PICKED UP AND POLICE BECAME DISTURBED ABOUT AIM'S ANTIPOLICE IDEOLOGY, CLAIMING THAT THE PATROL INTERFERED WITH POLICE WORK. NEVERTHELESS, POLICE AND PATROL ENCOUNTERS WERE NOT VIOLENT. THE SURVEY OF NEIGHBORHOOD INHABITANTS SUPPORTED AIM'S THEORY THAT THE PATROL FUNCTIONED PRIMARILY AS A MEANS BY WHICH A PARTICULAR GROUP DEMONSTRATED ITS IDEOLOGY. THE INDIAN PATROL NEVER FUNCTIONED AS A POLICE DEPARTMENT; IT HAD NO AUTHORITY AND DID NOT SEEK TO ENFORCE LAWS. IN THIS RESPECT IT DIFFERED FROM HISTORIC VIGILANTE GROUPS. PATROL ACTIVITIES CEASED BECAUSE OF AIM'S PREOCCUPATION WITH OTHER MATTERS AND BECAUSE OF IMPROVED POLICE AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS THROUGH THE APPOINTMENT OF AN INDIAN LIAISON OFFICER. TABLES OF PATROL ACTIVITIES AND REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (MRK)