‘The ones in red:’ people who use drugs’ experiences of the Janus-faced nature of police volunteerism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Championed as an economic strategy to enhance community safety and reduce the need for formal police response to social disorder, volunteer policing groups have become a common sight in many urban centres. They represent a key element of police civilianisation, with existing research unmasking how they differ from other civilian personnel and their relationship with sworn police officers. Far less, however, is known about how marginalised groups, such as People Experiencing Houselessness (PEH) and People Who Use Drugs (PWUD), experience and perceive police volunteers. Drawing upon 50 semi-structured interviews with unhoused PWUD in Lethbridge, Alberta (Canada), we interrogate how participants experienced, perceived, and engaged with an unpaid police volunteer group responsible for addressing downtown community safety – the Lethbridge Police Service’s Ambassador Watch Programme (The Watch). Our findings show participants held diverse and often conflicting perceptions of this group, with The Watch serving as 1) caring agents, 2) agents of surveillance and control, and 3) a medium for police intervention. We argue that despite some of the benefits provided by police volunteer groups, they may exacerbate harm and feelings of insecurity for marginalised people when organised and managed by police agencies.