Planning is the basis of all tactics and is the determining factor in increasing the effectiveness of a police department. Five related steps are involved in planning: recognizing the need for a plan, establishing the plan objectives, gathering and analyzing relevant data, developing the plan, and obtaining concurrence. Tactical plans are those emergency-type plans that can be put into effect on the sudden occurrence of a condition requiring their use. It is important to have plans prepared and on file that would cope with disasters, road block situations, institution escapes, major crimes, crowd and traffic emergencies, labor disputes, public events, etc. The planning for the 1964 Republican Convention in Daly City, California, provides a good example of planning for special events and tactics. In any size department, tactics used to achieve solutions are limited only by the ingenuity and imagination of those attacking the problem. Some examples of imaginative, relatively inexpensive, and simple plans and tactics devised by police agencies throughout the U.S. include observers in pickup trucks, operation bird watch, observation posts in concealed canvas-covered work platforms on telephone poles, cooperative road blocks, monitoring of citizen-band radios, saturation patrols, and a mass narcotic raid technique. The most successful tactics utilized well-trained and committed officers willing to experiment with change, citizen participation, and up-to-date equipment. Professional cooperation in the exchange of police plans is the best means of providing successful police field procedures.