The Interdependence of Municipal and County Police Forces:

A bstract — In our politically fragmented urban areas, sheriff's police services, like all municipal services, are distributed free of any direct charge. This study attempts to determine the optimal quantities of county police activity each political district should receive as well as their matching tax bills. The outcome of the analysis is pronouncedly influenced by the peculiar nature of externalities that occur in the provision of urban law enforcement services. Achievement of optimality conditions indicates an inverse relationship between sheriff's per capita expenditures and per capita tax base values of the participating political units.