The relationship between police departments and minority groups is one of the critical problems examined in National Educational Television's hour-long documentary "Crime in the Streets." "Crime in the Streets" focuses on two main aspects of this mounting national crisis - the problems facing local departments, such as manpower shortages, low wages, and insufficient training, and second, the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents who today commit about half of all serious crimes. Community relations between policemen and minority groups, particularly non-whites, are discussed by Harold Rothwax, an attorney for New York City's Mobilization for Youth, Joseph Lohman, dean of criminology at the University of California; John Cassese, president of New york City's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and recruits at the City's Police Academy. Mr. Cassese and Superintendent O.W. Wilson of Chicago's Police Department comment on police training, wages, and efficiency, and the program presents a look at Chicago's new $2 million police community center, reportedly the most modern in the world. "Crime in the Street" explores the growing crime rate among teenagers, with interviews with juvenile delinquents, former members of city "gangs," and experts in the field of rehabilitation. Among these interviewed are psychologist Saul Pilnick, former director of Essexfields Group Rehabilitation Center in Newark, NJ; Mrs. Trude Lash, executive director of the Citizens Committee for Children in New York City; Dick Rachin, director of the J. Stanley Shepard Home, part of the New York State Division for Youth Program; and Caleb Warrington, director of the Ferris School for Boys in Wilmington, Delaware.
