The Police Role in Delinquency Prevention and Control: A Descriptive Study of 869 Cases of Girls Between Seven and Twenty-One Years of Age Referred to the Bronx Units of the Youth Investigation Bureau of the Youth Division of the Police Department of the City of New York During 1962

Background and Timeliness of the Study. Law enforcement officers are expected to keep their communities free of crime, and crime includes what we know as delinquency. To combat this peril to America, law enforcement agencies have instituted specialized police services to handle juvenile offenders who come to the attention of the police. If we examine closely the roles of agencies having an interest in the juvenile offender, we begin to realize the tremendous importance of the police in any coordinated plan. Only within the past few years has the role played by law enforcement, as one of the key services in the control of juvenile crime, come to the attention of the American people. The rapid increase in these services has resulted in some misunderstanding and disagreement as to the type, extent, and comprehensiveness of the police service that should be available for juveniles. However, there is general agreement that specialized police services are important and that impartial law enforcement is effective as a deterrent to crime and delinquency