Community Policing and the Limits of the Bureaucratic State

Abstract

This paper explores contemporary challenges that community policing practices pose to unified understandings of sovereignty that traditionally underpin the delivery of state-centred policing in developed states. Fleming (Sage: 37–39, 2009) suggests that community policing is about partnerships, consultation and building trust in communities. Through a case study of the development of a local security network in an inner suburb of Melbourne (Victoria, Australia), I explore how state police work with other community agencies. Interviews with police and service providers identified past experience of policing in remote or international contexts, and an appreciation of community development principles, as factors that contribute to effective community policing. I discuss these claims, drawing on international policing literature that critically evaluates capacity building in a range of so-called fragile states, arguing that greater consideration of policing in differently organised states could reshape our understanding and expectations of community policing at home.