ABSTRACT
This chapter examines three attempts to encourage partnership working in three different countries, England, Australia and New Zealand, and questions who should be and who is in charge of rural policing. It examines these schemes with the aim of revealing how policing partnerships are organised, driven and coerced. The chapter focuses on particular initiatives in each country; namely: a rural policing initiative in the West Midlands of the UK; a partnership scheme in Western Australia and community patrols in the central police district of New Zealand's North island. The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act required local authorities and the police to work in partnership with each other and other agencies to improve community safety and reduce crime. The spatial and social effectiveness of rural community-policing would appear to depend strongly upon these traditions and policies to police in partnership merely reflect, rather than affect, propensity to work collectively and communally.
