The 187 city departments and 44 county departments that made up the final survey sample included the respondents to an earlier (1978) survey; the other city police departments serving populations of more than 100,000; and 19 other county police departments with more than 500 employees. The response rate to the 1983 survey was 71.4 percent. The questions covered general background information on each department, patrol assignments, the use of one-officer and two-officer cars, dispatching policies, methods of setting priorities among calls for service, alternative response strategies, alarm response policies, the use of civilian employees, and departmental operations. Comparisons between 1978 and 1983 were also sought. Results indicate that nearly all the departments are using one-officer cars to increase productivity. Police departments also have made major changes in responding to calls from citizens. They have increased greatly the percentage of calls handled by phone reports, walk-in reports, and scheduled responses. Some departments make no responses to selected categories of calls. Another trend is the increasing use of civilians. Thus, workload-shedding practices are widespread and growing in municipal police departments, and are likely to expand because they appear not to have caused a deterioration in service. Tables and an appendix presenting the survey instrument are included.