This summary report presents a brief overview of the Pilot Cities program, its outcomes, and the conclusions and recommendations contained in the full 194-page report. The program selected a group of eight cities to demonstrate and evaluate promising ideas and technologies for improving criminal justice. A small team of criminal justice experts, independent of specific agencies, was established in various cities to stimulate change, provide technical assistance, and conduct research. A twenty-month evaluation of the program found that the team concept could work well. The evaluation also uncovered a number of shortcomings in the program. One finding illuminates the tension between innovation on the one hand and improvement on the other. The two are not found to be mutually reinforcing, as they may actually compete with each other. The document contains the following: the nature and the purpose of the program, program accomplishments (start-up, team activities and team impact), and conclusions and recommendations. The latter are grouped under three headings: the concepts of innovation and improvement as they apply to changes in law enforcement and criminal justice; the lessons of the program for advancing the state of the law enforcement and criminal justice art; and, recommendations for exploiting the team approach to improving local criminal justice systems. (Author/AM)