One committee emerged as a consequence of the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act (1984) and the other was set up voluntarily, prior to this legislation. All meetings of both committees were observed for two-and-a-half years. An examination of the implementation of a recent crime control/police effectiveness policy suggested that structural influences were responsible for its rapidness and consistency. However, the legislation was vaguely worded -- it did not include precise details on the policing policies which the committees could be consulted about nor ways in which the public could contribute to crime control. Interpreting and resourcing community representation was a further problem which rendered consultation a mere reinforcement, rather than a scrutinization, of the police perspective. It has also been shown that committee members were not representative of their communities in terms of social status and size of constituency. 32 references