Citizen Patrols

Abstract

This chapter will examine the role of citizen patrols in contemporary policing. We saw in Chapter 1 that until the birth of the ‘New Police’ in 1829 volunteer patrols were a feature of the policing landscape. Volunteer patrols were to some extent displaced by the professional police service but they were not totally displaced. The Special Constabulary, whose role will be revisited in Chapter 8, is comprised of part-time volunteer officers. The nature of citizen patrols considered in this chapter is different to patrols conducted by Special Constables. Special Constables have full police powers and are uniformed. They are recruited directly by the police service and deployed by them. The citizen patrols which form the basis of this chapter are more organic. They evolve somewhat spontaneously within communities, they are more or less connected to the police service and patrollers have no formal powers. Citizen patrols of this sort have not long been a mainstream feature of contemporary policing in the UK — in contrast to the US where such schemes are much more established in the mixed economy of policing. Nevertheless, there have been attempts to embed citizen patrols in England and Wales. Certainly citizen patrols, often organised by faith groups, have become a feature of the night time economy over recent years (Johns et al., 2009).