These advisory bodies have been established by police subdivisions, which normally serve populations between 60,000 and 150,000. The committees usually meet quarterly, are chaired by elected members of the police authority, and typically have 15 to 25 appointed members representing various community groups. The committees usually lack staff except to help with meeting arrangements and minutes. Their early meetings focus on organizational issues. Later, they focus on the report of the police commander or another speaker with crime prevention, school liaison, and drug abuse being favorite topics. Although the meetings can be useful places for citizens to report on local problems and promote practical cooperative solutions, they have had little success in building substantive partnerships between the police and the community. Reasons for this failure include confusion and ignorance of committee members regarding their roles, the understandable reluctance of police forces to provide committees with adequate information, and negative responses from some elements of the community. 28 references