Data for the report are drawn from a community survey of 913 elderly citizens in 2 cities, a survey of 893 police officers in 2 departments, a review of elderly requests for police service, and a nationwide review of police-related programs designed to assist elderly clients. The citizen survey indicated that the urban elderly's anxieties concerning crime impose several limitations upon their lifestyles and contribute to feelings of depression and loneliness. However, despite the physical, financial, and emotional suffering caused by victimization and fear of crime, the elderly expressed extremely favorable attitutes toward the police. The results of the police officer survey indicate that the responding officers have a generally positive image of the elderly and perceive the elderly as making proportionately fewer demands and fewer unnecessary requests for service than the nonelderly population. Analysis of requests by the elderly for police service indicates that the elderly do not make excessive or especially difficult demands upon the police or that there are any severe strains in police/elderly interactions. The findings summarized in this report have two principal and possibly controversial policy implications for police operations. First, the report indicates that the elderly have quite favorable attitudes toward the police and are generally satisfied with the quality of police services they receive and that the police have a generally positive image of the elderly and appear to encounter few special difficulties in providing services to them. These findings raise serious questions about the advisability of undertaking major programs designed specifically to improve the quality of police services to the elderly without first carefully establishing that such programs represent the most effective use of limited police resources. Second, the analysis suggests that the police could play a much more active role in referring elderly citizens with either crime- or noncrime-related problems. The survey data revealed that only a very small percentage of the police service recipients were referred to other sources for help. This is surprising because the police are often called to handle noncrime-related problems which fall outside their field of expertise, and because they encounter elderly crime victims who may have problems coping with the physical, economic, and psychological effects of victimization.