ABSTRACT OF THE TBESIS The Distribution of Police Services in North and South Dakota by RICHARD BARRY MIL, Ph .D. Thesis Director: Professor John E. Brush This study examines why police services are distributed as they appear in the Dakotas. Using Central Place Theory ss a gen-eral framework, the numbers and locations of police officers pre- sent are hypothesized to be positively related both to local popu- lation changes and to the amounts of external funding which the police departments receive. To determine the validity of these hypotheses. examinations are conducted on the role of the police in the Dakotas, the distribution of crime in the region, and the functional operations of law enforcement at the municipal, county, and state levels. A statistical analysis is conducted comparing the nunbers of police officers employed. crime rates, and taxes paid per capita with various social-economic and geographical criteria within each county. Case studies focus on three dis- parate counties. One is a rural area losing population over time, a second is an energy-impacted area, and a third is an urbanized setting. A chapter on reservation crime and law en- forcement, emphasizing the problems of Indian-white police co-operation, is presented. An appendix detailing problems of !. qesearch in the field of rural law enforcement is also included. The author concludes that the spatial distribution of police services in the Dakotas is closely related to the population at each site, but is also influenced by the rapidity of change there. Increasing emphasis upon certifying officers has begun to make small departments very expensive for some towns. This, plus some problems of overlaming jurisdictions between towns and counties. has encouraged consolidation of police services in sone areas. Very serious jurisdictional problems exist between the reser- vations and other local jurisdictions. Recent unrest, and Federal support for tribal police, makes these areas different in law en- forcement from the non-Indian areas nearby. Sumarizing the various factors which may influence police services in areas similar to the Dakotas, a general model is de- veloped in the final chapter. This is intended to be of use in tandem with the geographic concepts emphasized in this work. iii