Public and Private Policing

Prof Ian Loader

Effective, accountable and legitimate police institutions are a key ingredient of citizen security and good government. Yet the public police are not the only providers of policing. Security today is the responsibility of a range of policing bodies – in the private sector and across civil society. Nor are policing institutions – or the crime problems they tackle - confined within the borders of single nation-states. The aim of this course is to introduce students to key institutions, processes and challenges involved in creating effective and legitimate policing. The course addresses a series of core questions concerning the role of the police, use and control of police powers, police relations with other security providers, governance and oversight mechanisms, and citizen engagement. It also enables students to engage in finding better ways of addressing some of today’s most urgent policing problems, such as the regulation of cyber-crime. Students will be introduced to the dynamics and complexities of contemporary policing and be equipped with the conceptual and analytic tools for understanding security governance.