Plural policing in England and Wales: thoughts and discussion

Plural policing can be described as a new way of looking at policing which may now have moved away from a police-centric view of the world, and includes a new way of viewing the social system that surrounds policing itself. In particular this involves
the growth of the non -public sector policing provision of policing activities. When discussing exactly what is meant by policing, there has been a focus on discussing the topic purely from the view of the uniform services provided by the public police
organisation. However, there is a need to move away from the idea that ‘policing’ is associated purely with the work of the uniformed public police alone. This is an important point that needs to be reinforced, but to understand the current and ongoing trend for plural policing we need to situate the present state (and future) of police activity. This article discusses the concept of plural policing and also considers examples from different countries in order to appreciate such important facets as police accountability and legitimacy within the democratic policing model.