The Division of Justice and Crime Prevention was directed by the General Assembly in 1973 (Senate Joint Resolution Number 62) to make detailed recommendations for the improvement of law enforcement in Virginia. This Report represents the results of these efforts.

A two-volume report which was entitled Law Enforcement in Virginia was presented to the last session of the General Assembly. The first Volume contained the findings of our comprehensive descriptive study of law enforcement. In the second Volume, nearly fifty recommendations were set forth to deal with the most serious problems identified as a result of the study effort.

The selection of the recommendations for ameliorative action contained in this Report resulted from careful analyses of the many problems which were documented during the previous Study. The recommendations which subsequently evolved were designed to attack the most serious of these problems and to have the greatest collective impact upon the law enforcement system.

A number of individuals made this report possible. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Meredith S. Urick who made many substantive contributions to this project, to the State officials who assisted in the development of the implementation procedures affecting their respective agencies, to Dr. Jack R. Gallagher who prepared the narrative portions of this Report, to Mr. Joseph N. Tucker who had the administrative responsibility for this Report and to other members of my staff who made substantive contributions.

Richard N. Harris
Director, Division of Justice and Crime Prevention