ALTHOUGH THE SAMPLE OF 98 PERSONS INTERVIEWED WAS REPRESENTATIVE IN ALL OTHER RESPECTS, IT IS REPORTED TO SHOW A SHORTAGE OF UNMARRIED PEOPLE AND THOSE UNDER 30. THE TAPE-RECORDED INTERVIEWS CONSISTED OF VERY GENERAL QUESTIONS WHICH AIMED AT USING A 'NEUTRAL' VOCABULARY. ANSWERS WERE CONVERSATIONAL AND STRUCTURED BY THE RESPONDENT HIMSELF. QUESTIONS RELATED TO SITUATIONS WHERE THE RESPONDENT HIMSELF HAD CALLED THE POLICE, WHEN HE WOULD CALL THEM, AND CASES WHERE HE KNEW SOMEONE ELSE WHO HAD CALLED THEM. SUBJECTS WERE ALSO ASKED WHAT THEY HAD EXPECTED FROM THE POLICE, WHAT THE POLICE DID, WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL IN WHAT THEY DID, WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THE POLICE HAD NOT BEEN CALLED, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THEY WERE NEVER CALLED IN SIMILAR CASES, WHETHER THE POLICE WOULD BE CALLED AGAIN IN A SIMILAR SITUATION, AND WHO MIGHT BE CALLED INSTEAD OF THE POLICE. TRANSCRIPTS WERE MADE OF EACH INTERVIEW AND THE CONTENTS WERE ANALYZED. A TAXONOMIC ANALYSIS THAT SORTED RESPONDENTS INTO GROUPS ACCORDING TO SIMILARITY WAS ALSO PERFORMED. RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH INDICATE A PREVALENT APPARENT CONTRADICTION. IN MANY INSTANCES PEOPLE INDICATED SATISFACTION WITH WHAT THE POLICE DID BUT COULD NOT SPECIFY ANY CONCRETE BENEFIT FROM THE POLICE INTERVENTION. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT POLICE ARE CALLED NEITHER TO ACHIEVE A CONCRETE RESULT NOR TO FULFILL A NORM. IT IS DEDUCED THAT CALLING THE POLICE FULFILLS A SYMBOLIC RITUAL THAT PARALLELS THAT OF A CHILD CALLING HIS PARENTS WHEN CONFRONTING A PROBLEM THAT HE CANNOT OR WILL NOT SOLVE, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME NOT WILLING TO LEAVE THE PROBLEM UNRESOLVED. IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THIS INTERPRETATION OF INTERVIEW RESULTS IS SPECULATIVE. (RCB)