THIS STUDY WAS CONCEIVED AND DEVELOPED TO TEST THE ASSUMPTION THAT RESPONDING QUICKLY TO CALLS FOR POLICE SERVICE WILL PRODUCE THE MOST DESIRABLE OUTCOMES, AND TO IDENTIFY THOSE PROBLEMS AND PATTERNS WHICH MIGHT AFFECT HOW QUICKLY A CITIZEN REPORTS A NEED FOR POLICE SERVICE. THE DESIGN OF THE STUDY AND DATA COLLECTION SPANNED 3 YEARS, ALTHOUGH THE PRIMARY DATA WERE COLLECTED DURING 1975, IN KANSAS CITY. TRAINED CIVILIAN OBSERVERS ACCOMPANIED OFFICERS INTO THE FIELD TO COLLECT DATA ON TRAVEL TIMES AND ON-SCENE ACTIVITIES, WHILE TAPE ANALYSTS COLLECTED DISPATCH TIME DATA BY TIMING TELEPHONE AND RADIO EXCHANGES RECORDED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS UNIT. INTERVIEWERS QUESTIONED VICTIMS OF CRIMES AND CITIZENS WHO REPORTED CRIME AND NONCRIME INCIDENTS OR REQUESTED POLICE SERVICE. THE CALLS FOR SERVICE MAKING UP THE DATA BASE CAME PRIMARILY FROM A TARGET AREA SELECTED FOR ITS HIGH RATES OF ROBBERIES AND AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS. THE DATA COVERED THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM OF POLICE SERVICE, INCLUDING BOTH PART I AND PART II CRIME CALLS, POTENTIAL AND NONCRIME CALLS, AND TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT IS PROVIDED, AND THE SETTING OF THE SUBJECT AREA AND THE SEARCH ARE DESCRIBED. THE EXAMINATION OF THE SAMPLE DESIGN AND THE DATA COLLECTION PROCESS IS ILLUSTRATED BY TABLES. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS DEVELOPED FROM THE DATA ARE PRESENTED IN SUBSEQUENT VOLUMES DEVOTED TO THE ANALYSIS OF SPECIFIC CATEGORIES OF CRIMES OR NONCRIMES (SEE NCJ-47077). APPENDIXES INCLUDE DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE, BEAT-WATCH RANK ORDERS, CITY MAP AND BEAT MAPS, AN OBSERVER DEPLOYMENT MATRIX AND MATRIX DEVIATIONS, AN OBSERVER EVALUATION FORM, THE FIELD NONCRIME SHORTFORM, A MEASURE OF THE ACCURACY OF OBSERVER'S PULSARS, THE TAPE CONTENT ANALYSIS INSTRUMENT, THE TAPE TIME INSTRUMENT, THE VICTIM-CALLER INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT, THE VICTIM INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT, THE WITNESS-CALLER INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT, THE POTENTIAL CRIME CALL, GENERAL CALLS FOR SERVICE INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT, THE INJURY FOLLOWUP INSTRUMENT, THE REINTERVIEW INSTRUMENT, REINTERVIEW COMPLETION RATES, AND THE SUPPLEMENT III-TIME RECONSTRUCTION INSTRUMENT. A GLOSSARY AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. FOR AN ANALYSIS OF STUDY DATA RELATING TO PART I OFFENSES ONLY AND AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, SEE NCJ 47077 AND 46852 RESPECTIVELY. OTHER INCIDENTS WILL BE THE SUBJECT OF FUTURE REPORTS OVER THE YEAR. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)