This study investigated the priorities for coverage of law enforcement news, of three groups: 146 citizens from the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area, 60 of the 68 police officers serving their communities, and 33 media personnel from the area. Subjects from all three groups were asked to rank stories about law enforcement in terms of their importance for mass media coverage. Media personnel were also asked to predict the rankings of citizens and police. Results indicated that the rankings by citizens and police were highly positively correlated but that there was virtually no correlation between rankings by media personnel and those by citizens and police. Media personnel perceived little similarity between their news priorities and those of police, but they perceived a high degree of similarity between their news priorities and those of citizens. All three groups gave higher priority to crime-related items than to service-related items. Citizens and police gave higher priority to stories that were favorable toward the police than to those that were unfavorable; media personnel gave higher priority to unfavorable items. The study also uncovered differences of opinion between police and media personnel on several aspects of their working relationships. (Author/GW)