ABSTRACT
Any citizen could telephone the police in Syracuse and ask to be connected to any of its departments, but ordinarily they told the officer on the switchboard what they wanted and he connected them to the complaint desk. The police themselves take for granted, however, that a certain group of citizens, most of whom are very poor, will call upon them routinely in all kinds of trouble. They also accept the fact that in all socioeconomic groups there are "regulars" who call almost daily with a variety of grievances. The core service of the police complaint department was the protection of the citizenry. This protection was usually provided simply by the blue uniform, an unequivocal symbol of the social order. The policeman's most controlling act is the arrest, and in a sense this is a referral to court or jail.
