Plural Policing

The police increasingly need to work with other government agencies, the third sector, community organisations and the private sector, an approach known as “Plural Policing”. This book critically analyses the rise of this approach in England and Wales over the past decade, giving examples of national and international practice. Written by an author with experience in both practice and academia, it discusses the consequences of this approach for the historical model of policing provision and challenges views on how policing should be delivered in the future. Part of Key themes in policing, a textbook series designed to fill a growing need for research-informed policing within Higher Education curriculums and in practice, edited by Megan O’Neill, Marisa Silvestri & Stephen Tong, this accessible text, aimed primarily at undergraduate students, will appeal widely across different modules and tie into important issues covered on all policing courses.

Policing is changing rapidly and radically. An increasingly complex array of public, private and municipal bodies - as well as public police forces - are engaged in the provision of regulation and security. Consequently, it is difficult to think of security provision primarily in terms of what the public police do, and so the terminology of 'fragmented' or 'plural' policing systems has become well-established within criminology and police science. 'Plural policing' is now a central issue within criminology and police studies throughout the world, and there is now a large and growing body of research and theory concerned with its extent, nature and governance. To date, however, this work has been dominated by Anglo-American perspectives. This volume takes a detailed comparative look at the development of plural policing, and provides the most up-to-date work of reference for scholars in this field. Edited by two of the world's leading authorities on policing, and including individual contributions from internationally recognised experts in criminology and police studies, this is the first ever volume to focus on ‘plural policing’ internationally, and to draw together empirical evidence on its developments in a formal comparative framework.

The volume brings together an international group of authors discussing basic concepts and approaches to plural policing as well as aspects and practices of plural policing in specific locations. The context comes from the fact that policing activities are nowadays performed by a growing number and variety of police and non-police stakeholders. This development is internationally discussed as ‘pluralisation of policing’ or plural policing. This book provides insights into plural policing across different countries of the global North. It looks at day-to-day security which is mainly produced at the local level, and where there is considerable diversity in philosophy and practice. Therefore, it allows learnings for possible future developments in the field. This volume contributes to policing studies and is of interest to the wide range of academics dealing with questions of security and order, as well as policy makers and practitioners working on security in their regions.

This book critically examines how countries across Europe have dealt with the COVID crisis from a policing and security perspective. Across the chapters, contributors from different countries examine the data, press coverage, and provide professional observations on how policing, law enforcement, police powers and community relations were managed. They focus on how security and governmental actors often failed to align with the formal scripts that were specifically designed for crisis-management, resulting in the wavering application of professional discretion and coercive powers. Their different approaches were evident: in some regions police were less dominantly visible compared to other regions, where the police used a top-down visible and repressive stance vis-à-vis public alignment with COVID rules, including the imposition of lockdown and curfews. Some contributors draw on data from the COROPOL (Corona Policing) Monitor which collated data on crime, plural policing and public order in Europe and around the world during the early phases of the COVID crisis. Overall, this book seeks to provide comparative critical insights and commentary as well as a practical and operational understanding of security governance during the COVID-19 crisis and the lessons learned to improve future preparedness.

This book challenges the conventional wisdom of international policing in transitional societies which seeks to strengthen the state police. It builds on a growing body of literature on the pluralization of policing in Western democracies and transitional states which contends that the state police is merely one security provider in a complex policing landscape. Through a case study of Kosovo, this book proposes possible forms of plural policing and the relationship between state-builders and non-state policing agents such as private security companies, gangs and Kanun-based policing systems. The book provides insights in the field of (plural) policing in transitional societies and overall policing strategies used by the international community in Kosovo.

This timely and important report draws together the findings of an extensive two-year study of developments in the provision of visible policing in England and Wales. Exploring the dynamic relations between different public and private providers, it combines an overview of national developments with a detailed analysis of six focused case studies, including two city centres, one out-of-town shopping centre, an industrial park and two residential areas. The report considers the role of community support officers, neighbourhood wardens and private security guards, amongst other plural policing personnel and outlines the policy implications of the research findings, particularly with regard to the Government's current police reform agenda. It also provides important insights and recommendations regarding the organisation, co-ordination and regulation of the future mixed economy of visible security patrols. Plural policing will be of special interest to academics, researchers, policy makers, police and security managers and students of criminology and policing, as well as all those interested in community safety and the changing face of modern policing.

Policing is changing rapidly and radically. A growing body of research is concerned with the development of 'plural policing' provided by a range of public, private and municipal bodies. This book will provide the most up-to-date work of reference for scholars in this field.

The Journal of Police Studies is a quarterly, which is oriented towards high standard, quality contributions on policing issues and phenomena that are of interest to the police. Topics are approached from a specialist and (if required) multidisciplinary point of view. The volume looks to answer questions regarding the developments of police and police cooperation in Europe at the supranational level as well as explore the reactions of police organizations in individual European countries to the process of transnationalisation in terms of the design of and philosophy within police organizations.