Résumé
"Consolidated public safety agencies have existed
in the United States for more than a century.
Previous discourse has largely focused on the
extent of consolidation and its potential costs and
benefits. Possibly because of the lack of any census
or comprehensive survey of such organizations,
little research has systematically examined the
administrative features of consolidated agencies.
This document provides the necessary first step in
systematic research on consolidated public safety
departments, their administrative attributes, and their
specific forms of consolidation. It reviews efforts to
create and the results of the first census of public safety
departments. It then uses these results to describe the
administrative features of these departments." -- Page 2.