How is it one solution for two problems

FOP is not a panacea for the ills of modern society or modern day policing but it offers one solution for two problems:
Take the issue of press hostility to the police- when the Press are wooed and won over as FOP, they begin to act as eyes and ears of the police. The trust deficit has to be overcome first

Take the issue of political interference- when police are in direct touch with people at large and through their ambassadors-the FOPs, when politicians in seats of power interfere unduly, they will feel the popular backlash in due course or through the ballot box.

Take the issue of public distrust of the police, so much so many citizens begin to believe that the police are in cahoots with the criminals and are not willing to share information about crimes with the former. When the bridges of mutual understanding are laid through FOP, the trust deficit again is overcome and people begin to trust their police.

The police are not everywhere, all the time but people are everywhere, all the time. Hence, any ground level intelligence can percolate from the local people. Take the case of landing of Pakistan based terrorists in a fishing hamlet off the coast of Mumbai, if there were FOPs in that locality, they would have noticed " the odd man out" of ten young men with backpacks, dressed neatly in jeans and T-shirts, landing in rubber dingies on the beach. Ground level intelligence can emanate only from citizens on the spot where the action begins. It will give a head start or a lead to the police.