The terms "large cities" and "small cities" were assigned to the two groups of cities used in the sample for ease of reference. However, most cities in the "large cities" group have populations under 100,000 and may not be considered large cities by most observers.
A list of cities and their populations was obtained from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. A list of agencies whose jurisdictions are considered suburban counties and rural counties was obtained from Crime in the United States, 1994: Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1995, pp. 167-189.
For its own purposes, the Bureau of the Census sometimes divides cities and towns into segments. However, for the purposes of this survey, the entire population of each city and town was used.
This figure was weighted for the number of gang members reported in each jurisdiction.
Respondents were asked to check all that apply; therefore, the average percentages for this question do not equal 100 percent.
Percentages in parentheses were calculated by subtracting the percentage of agencies reporting "none" (see table 26) from 100 percent.
These percentages were calculated by subtracting the percentage of agencies reporting "none" (see table 27) from 100 percent.
These percentages were calculated by subtracting the percentage of agencies reporting "none" (see table 28) from 100 percent.
The reader is reminded that the 1995 and 1997 samples were composed of different respondents; therefore, caution should be used when drawing conclusions about comparisons of data from the 2 years.
Endnotes