The activities of the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department are examined. Scenes include a confrontation in which an angry landlady accuses a tenant of throwing a knife at her spouse and the attempt of a black youth to take his child away from his wife. Three policemen and black neighbors restrain a 17-year-old car thief who has wrecked three automobiles while trying to escape. While interrogating a novice prostitute, a policeman chokes her so violently that she is unable to answer his questions. After an abortive attempt to rob a clothing store, three black adolescents are arrested; one of the three is an unarmed youth who claims to be a customer. Cadets are briefed on community relations. Irritated by an officer's refusal to help him find a place to spend the night, a transient decries police brutality and the Vietnamese conflict. The police remove a vomiting drunk from the sidewalk, aid the victim of a purse snatcher, entertain a lost child at the station, and discuss the inadequacy of their salaries. The film is concluded with Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign promise to make American cities safe from crime.