The premise of this book is that the initial interaction between service seekers and organizational 'gatekeepers' has important implications for service delivery, including delivery of law enforcement services.

Nine chapters explore the initial exchange between citizens and agencies, consider the processing of service demands, and trace the impact of demand processing on subsequent actions of organizational representatives such as police officers, teachers, and welfare caseworkers. Demand processing refers to the system by which agencies receive and interpret service request signals and activate response. The concepts of demand processing are applied to one specific service, the police, since police face a large and varied pattern of citizen demands and their gatekeeping and response coordination tasks are functionally separate in all but the smallest departments. The volume contains recommendations for the design and modification of public policies and suggestions for organizational changes that might lead to improvements in service delivery. A total of 128 references are supplied.