CLOs throughout Great Britain identified their main functions as schools, community, and statutory liaison; crime prevention; home background reports on juvenile offenders; training of non-CLO officers; and contributing to policy on sensitive policing methods. Unstructured interviews, visits accompanying CLOs in their normal duties, and working diaries kept by the CLOs enabled the researchers to study six forces and their organization in terms of the CLO's rank, autonomy versus control, status, support, training, and perceptions of the CLO's role. The credibility of the CLO within the broader community is discussed in detail, as are specific ways used by CLOs to build bridges to that community. Based on their observations, the authors provide a checklist for police community liaison departments, including objectives, structure, pro-active planning, operational involvement, career opportunities, training courses, and self-evaluation.