In 1974, a CHMC operated by the Northwestern Memorial Hospital cooperated with the police in starting a Police Reception Program to treat psychiatric emergency patients who previously would have been taken to a State hospital. This study collected data on 838 patients referred to this program over a 2-year period as well as a 2-year followup on 93 patients referred to a State hospital prior to the program and 102 patients brought by police to the CHMC during its first 3 months. The Police Reception Program did not change the number of referrals significantly, which ranged from a monthly high of 66 to a low of 43. The police-referred patient typically was psychotic, lived alone, and needed hospitalization. Persons aged 25 to 35 and blacks were disproportionately referred, relative to their percentage in the community, along with those who were never married, divorced, and separated. These patients' assaultive, suicidal, drug dependent, or alcoholic behavior was a source of fear and anxiety in the community and could not be handled by individuals or emergency rooms unprepared for psychiatric emergencies. The CMHC patients fared better than the State hospital-referred patients in terms of emergency hospitalizations, length of hospital stay, and followup recidivism. The police-referred patients required an average of 2.2 hours for psychiatric evaluation, and most referrals were made between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m., indicating the need for a 24-hour program. The article includes tables and 11 references.