Why more citizen participation for the police? There are plenty of reasons why participation processes can enrich everyday police work. In addition to the advantages of citizen participation such as greater acceptance and legitimacy in the population, better understanding through a mutual trust relationship, or improvement of planning and decision-making quality through exchange of opinions, possible disadvantages and problems are described. However, these often arise from false assumptions about participation procedures in police work. These advantages and disadvantages of participation are intended to clarify that participation is not to be seen as a panacea for police planning and decision-making, but rather opens a sober view of the possibilities and limits of participation in an already difficult relationship. This leads to the question of how participatory projects in police work can succeed, which is illustrated by an exemplary presentation of a participation design in project reference.