ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with providing 'reassurance' through the police within a wider understanding of the patrol function, police-public relations, organizational quests for legitimacy and the growing market for non-police-provided security. 'Reassurance policing' has become the latest in a long line of government and police-sponsored initiatives to improve police-public relations and address declining confidence in the police. It has become commonplace to refer to a contemporary 'reassurance paradox'; as general crime risks have declined so perceptions of victimization risks have increased. In a market society, the police have not been alone in responding to this public demand for security. In advancing the signal crimes theory, Innes and colleagues suggest that certain local problems may produce particularly strong signals. The signal crime theory fails to highlight the different elements of policing upon which such demands and expectations impinge and the possible tensions between them.
