THE STUDY WAS INTENDED TO EXAMINE AND COMPARE THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIOECONOMIC AND PERSONAL CONTACT VARIABLES IN DETERMINING ATTITUDES TOWARD POLICE. THE FOUR NEIGHBORHOODS FROM WHICH RESPONDENTS WERE DRAWN WERE A LOW-INCOME BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD, A COMPARABLE LOW-INCOME WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD, A RACIALLY HETEROGENEOUS BUT PREDOMINANTLY BLACK LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOOD, AND A WHITE UPPER-MIDDLE-CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD HAVING NO PARTICULAR ETHNIC COMPOSITION. RESPONDENTS WERE RANDOMLY CHOSEN AND INTERVIEWED BY TRAINED INTERVIEWERS. THE QUESTIONNAIRE SOLICITED RESPONDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD CERTAIN POLICE ISSUES, AN ACCOUNT AND EVALUATION OF POLICE ENCOUNTERS OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS, AND RESPONDENT SOCIOMETRIC DATA. A MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED, WITH ATTITUDE TOWARD POLICE AS THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE AND SELECTED PERSONAL CONTACT AND SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES AS INDEPENDENT VARIABLES. RESULTS SHOW THAT PERSONAL HISTORY, PARTICULARLY RESPONDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE WAY IN WHICH SPECIFIC OFFICERS HAVE RELATED TO THEM PERSONALLY IN PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS, IS A MORE SIGNIFICANT DETERMINANT OF GENERAL ATTITUDES TOWARD POLICE THAN WERE ALL SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES, INCLUDING RACE AND INCOME. FINDINGS THUS SUGGEST THAT POSITIVE STYLES OF POLICING WILL SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS AND THAT POLICE COMMUNITY RELATIONS EMPHASIZING OFFICER-CITIZEN INTERACTION IN A LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTEXT HAVE THE HIGHEST PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS. TABULAR AND GRAPHIC DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)