ABSTRACT
While the previous chapter outlined in general the growing role the private security industry plays in policing, this chapter examines in more detail the police’s patrolling function as this is one of the best examples of the ‘pluralisation’ or ‘fragmentation’ of policing. Patrolling has been the topic of recent heated debates about the roles and activities the police, private security firms and other agencies fulfil. It is also one of the most overt activities the public police undertake. As the Audit Commission (1996: 5) has argued: ‘It [patrol] provides a sense of security and symbolises lawful authority at a time when there are increasing concerns about an erosion of authority.’
