THE PRESSURE ON ORGANIZED CRIME CONTINUED DURING THE REPORT PERIOD. EFFORTS WERE MADE TO SUPPRESS SPORTS BETTING. SPECIAL EMPHASIS WAS PLACED ON COCKFIGHTING, AND INDICTMENTS WERE RETURNED NAMING HIGH SYNDICATE FIGURES ON FELONY CHARGES. IN ADDITION, A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH OCCURRED IN BURGLARY ENFORCEMENT. BY THE END OF THE YEAR, NEARLY $100,000 WORTH OF RECOVERED PROPERTY HAD BEEN RETURNED TO THE OWNERS. PUBLIC COOPERATION AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT FACTORED LARGELY IN SUCCESSFUL POLICE EFFORTS. ONE OF THE MAJOR GOALS OF THE DEPARTMENT IS A CONSTANT UPGRADING OF THE TRAINING EFFORT. DURING THE 1978 THROUGH 1979 FISCAL YEAR, MANY THOUSANDS OF MAN HOURS WERE SPENT IN THE TRAINING AND RETRAINING PROCESS. STATISTICS FOR 1978 SHOW THAT SERIOUS OFFENSES INCREASED BY 5.3 PERCENT OVER THE PREVIOUS YEAR AND LESS SERIOUS OFFENSES DECREASED BY 1.9 PERCENT. A TOTAL OF 27.2 PERCENT OF THE SERIOUS OFFENSES AND 55.3 PERCENT OF THE LESSER OFFENSES WERE CLEARED IN 1978. THE AUTHORIZED STRENGTH OF THE DEPARTMENT IN 1978 WAS 276. THE RATIO OF POLICE OFFICERS TO POPULATION WAS 1 TO 369, COMPARED TO A RATIO OF 1 TO 341 IN 1977. IT COST A TOTAL OF $73.93 PER PERSON FOR POLICE SERVICES IN 1978, A FIGURE REPRESENTING A SLIGHT DECREASE FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR. TRAFFIC FATALITIES FOR THE YEAR INCREASED DRASTICALLY; 44 PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN 1978 COMPARED TO 30 IN 1977. DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL WAS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTING FACTOR IN 37 OF THE FATAL ACCIDENTS. PHOTOGRAPHS, CHARTS, AND TABULAR STATISTICAL DATA ARE PROVIDED IN THE ANNUAL REPORT. (LWM)