A LEAA grant to the New York City Police Department seeks a more effective way to handle the numerous family disturbance calls which so frequently end in violence, both to citizens and police officers. These funds helped establish a specially trained family crisis intervention unit. The effectiveness of the unit is shown in the absence of any homicides in any of the 1,120 family crises in which the unit has intervened. In Houston, a LEAA-sponsored project charted the potential for community violence through interviews in black communities. One outcome was the establishment of communication between the police department and the black community so grievances could be aired. Other LEAA grants aided the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Bureau of Standards, and the Department of Defense to help local police prevent and control riots. A demonstration project in Lakewood, Calif. provided helicopter patrol for 16 hours a day. An 8 percent decrease in major crime and a 6 percent decrease in robbery were subsequently reported. Cleveland is using LEAA funds to design a surveillance truck that has closed circuit TV and electronic equipment. The truck can be parked more than a block away from the scene of a robbery stakeout. The National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice is preparing to begin research to develop better equipment, new operational techniques, and increased coordination among the over 40,000 separate police departments in the Nation.