Third Party Policing.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Date: 01 August 2007
• Author: Weisburd, David
• Published date: 01 August 2007
• Author: Weisburd, David

Third Party Policing Lorraine Mazerolle and Janet Ransley (2005) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 261 pp, ISBN 13-978-0-521-82783-6 (hb), 978-0-521-53507-6 (ppb)

Over the last 3 decades, public policing in democratic societies has gone through a period of significant change and innovation. Since the 1980s, in what is a relatively short historical timeframe, the police have reconsidered their fundamental mission, the nature of their core operational strategies, and the character of their relationships with the communities that they serve (see Weisburd & Braga, 2006). Innovations in policing in this period have not been insular and restricted to police professionals and scholars, but are often seen on the front pages of America's newspapers and magazines and spoken about in the electronic media. Some have described this period of change as the most dramatic in the history of policing (e.g., see Bayley 1994). This claim does not perhaps do justice to the radical reforms that led to the creation of modern police forces in the 19th century, or even the wide-scale innovations in tactics or approaches to policing that emerged after the World War II. However, observers of the police today are inevitably struck by the pace and variety of innovation in the last few decades. Whether this period of change is greater than that of previous generations is difficult to know, as systematic observation of police practices is a relatively modern phenomenon. But, there is broad consensus among police scholars that the last 3 decades have 'witnessed a remarkable degree of innovation in policing' (Committee to Review Research 2004: 82).

One of the most important innovations in policing during this period has come to be termed 'third party policing'. Third party policing involves 'police efforts to persuade or coerce organizations or nonoffending persons, such as public housing agencies, property owners, parents, health and building inspectors, and business owners to take some responsibility for preventing crime or reducing crime problems' (Ransley & Mazerolle 2007:2). It represents a radical departure from the 'standard model of policing' (Committee to Review Research, 2004) in that it expands the traditional tools that police use to control and prevent crime. As my colleague John Eck and I have noted, '(p)olice agencies relying upon the standard model generally employ a limited range of approaches, overwhelmingly oriented toward enforcement, and make relatively little use of institutions outside of policing (with the notable exception of other parts of the criminal justice system). 'Enforcing the law' is a central element of the standard model of policing, suggesting that the main tools available to the police, or legitimate for their use, are found in their law enforcement powers' (Weisburd & Eck, 2004: 44). Third party policing expands the toolbox of policing, suggesting that the police can be much more effective in preventing and controlling crime if they partner with third parties and draw upon legal (but not criminal law) remedies at their disposal.

Third Party Policing by Lorraine Mazerolle and Janet Ransley is the first broad and systematic examination of third party policing, written by scholars who have not only assessed and evaluated this approach, but helped to establish it as a practical crime prevention strategy in policing. This is a first-rate book, not only because it provides the reader with a comprehensive view of what third party...