The study examines the public support received by the police in Pullman, Wash., by analyzing a vote on a bond issue for a new public safety building. The issues examined were why people voted for and against the bond issue and whether their votes related to their perceptions of the performance of the police department. It was hypothesized that citizens who have strong positive attitudes toward the police will support the bond vote more than those citizens with less positive attitudes. A sample of 1,108 registered voters who voted on the bond issues was randomly drawn, and questionnaires were successfully delivered to 1,084, with 51.9 percent of these responding. Forty-seven percent of the respondents had voted for the bond issue; 41 percent had voted against; 8 percent voted but not on the bond issue; and 4 percent did not indicate how they had voted. The questionnaire asked a number of questions that dealt with reasons for favoring or opposing the bond issue. The weakest supporters of the bond issue were homeowners (property tax was to fund the bond issue), conservatives, the elderly, and those in white- and blue-collar occupations. Among these groups, positive perceptions of the police were not as important in their voting as self-interest. Those with little to lose by a property tax -- the transient young who rent -- supported the bond issue, as did liberals for whom support for government activity is a consequence of ideological beliefs. Tabular data and 19 references are provided.