The sample consisted of 313 regular high school students, 160 students involved in a 'positive' police situation (taking a course taught by police officers), and 84 students with 'negative' police interactions (having records of law violations or delinquency). The questionnaire elicited information on television viewing habits and knowledge of real life law enforcement. Six items were used to test knowledge, each having a 'TV' answer and a 'real life' answer. The questions involved number of police and of polcie killed in the line of duty, use of private detectives, types of private detective cases, and most often used form of police patrol. The subjects were divided into categories of light, moderate, and heavy television-watching viewers of law enforcement television programs. The hypothesis that as viewing level increased, the ability of the subject to discern fact from fiction would decrease was partially supported by the findings. The results also suggest that the influence of television as an instructor of statistics about law enforcement might not be significiant, but that the influence of television's repetitious portrayal of certain police methods and behaviors might have an impact on adolescents' perceptions of social reality. Moreover, among the males and those in the negative/violators group, light viewers rather than heavy viewers, responded with the 'TV' answer Tabular data and 23 references are provided. (ERIC/author abstract modified).