THE STUDY WAS INITIATED IN 1973 TO ANALYZE THE IMPACT OF RESPONSE TIME ON SELECTED CRIME OUTCOMES AND TO IDENTIFY PROBLEMS IN AND PATTERNS OF REPORTING CRIME OR REQUESTING POLICE SERVICE. DATA WERE OBTAINED FROM 207 BEAT WATCHES AND RANK ORDERED ON THE BASIS OF ROBBERIES AND AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS. OBSERVERS ACCOMPANIED FIELD OFFICERS ASSIGNED TO THE HIGHEST RANKING 27TH PERCENTILE BEAT WATCHES. THE TARGET AREA WAS AN INNER CITY HIGH-CRIME AREA WHERE EDUCATION AND INCOME WERE LOWER AND THE PROPORTION OF BLACK CITIZENS WAS HIGHER THAN IN OTHER PARTS OF THE CITY. DATA WERE COLLECTED FOR 949 PART 1 CRIMES, INCLUDING 10 RAPES, 127 ROBBERIES, 84 AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS, 352 BURGLARIES, 297 LARCENIES, AND 79 VEHICLE THEFTS. THERE WERE 352 PART II CRIMES, INCLUDING 59 NONAGGRAVATED ASSAULTS, 104 INCIDENTS OF VANDALISM, 33 CASES OF FORGERY OR FRAUD, 17 WEAPON POSSESSIONS, 37 INCIDENTS OF DRUNKENESS, 58 CASES OF DISTURBING THE PEACE, AND 20 CASES OF DISORDERLY CONDUCT. THERE WERE 1,308 CRIME CALLS, AS COMPARED TO 5,794 NONCRIME CALLS. FIELD OBSERVATIONS AND CITIZEN FOLLOWUP INTERVIEWS CONSTITUTED THE BASIS FOR DATA ANALYSIS. IN GENERAL, CITIZENS WERE VERY SATISFIED WITH POLICE RESPONSE TIME. FOR PART I CRIMES, 70.2 PERCENT WERE VERY SATISFIED. PART II CRIMES HAD A SLIGHTLY HIGHER SATISFACTION RATE OF 72.3 PERCENT, AND THE RATE FOR NONCRIMES WAS SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN 68 PERCENT. THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR AFFECTING CITIZEN SATISFACTION WAS PERCEPTION OF RESPONSE TIME. FOR 826 PART I CRIMES, 85.6 PERCENT SAID FASTER RESPONSE WOULD NOT HAVE ALTERED THE RESULTS OF THE INCIDENT. FOR 248 PART II CRIMES, 81 PERCENT SAID IT WOULD NOT HAVE MATTERED. FOR 1,081 NONCRIMES, THE FIGURE WAS 76.2 PERCENT. REPORTING TIME WAS CRUCIAL TO ARRESTS AND WITNESS AVAILABILITY OUTCOMES. NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESPONSE TIME AND LENGTH OF HOSPITAL TREATMENT FOR INJURIES COULD BE ESTABLISHED. THE STUDY RESULTS INDICATE THAT RESPONSE TIME PER SE HAS LITTLE INFLUENCE ON CITIZEN SATISFACTION. REFERENCES ARE CITED. (DEP)