ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the policing mix is very different in rural and urban areas. It focuses on surveys conducted in Cornwall in 2004 as parts of the local crime and disorder audits. Local communities still seem more likely to rely on self-help than turn to the private sector and the most common form of crime prevention is to ask neighbours to keep an eye on one's property. In the immediate post-war period, the mandate of Special Constabulary in England and Wales and Scotland was radically altered and the Special Constabulary came to be seen and used as a form of community policing, a bridge between the regular police and public. Two recent and similar developments in the UK are Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) and Neighbourhood Wardens. A survey by the author in Devon and Cornwall showed that schemes and participation were greatest in the most urbanised parts of the force area and least common in rural Cornwall.
