What Is and Is Not Known About Volunteer Policing Across Europe? Comparative Perspectives on Volunteer Police Roles and Practice

This paper explores the wide diversity of practices of volunteer policing across Europe. The study explores where models of volunteer policing exist and the similarities and divergences of volunteer policing approaches, reflecting that most practice has emerged independently across different countries. Some countries build on historic volunteering traditions, while other countries have more recently emerged models of volunteer policing. The overall picture of volunteer policing practice across Europe, as it is currently known, is summarised, alongside short case studies of contrasting models, together with an explorative approach to providing a classification of national programmes. This paper represents one of the first to bring an international scholarly perspective across this vibrant mosaic of volunteer policing practices. The various forms, underlying ideas, identities, and rationales of volunteer police are explored, considering future directions for policy and practice and priorities for future academic study of volunteer policing across Europe.