A prominent participant? The role of the state in police partnerships

In this paper I review three books on the notion of partnership working. In Problem-oriented policing and partnerships and Crime reduction partnerships the authors explore partnership working in an informative way for practitioners, whereas in the edited collection. Fighting crime together, the authors combine empirical, theoretical and methodological understandings of the notion of security networks. The books provide a useful starting point for exploring wider issues. I examine the involvement of the police, as a dominant partnership participant; the existence of co-operation and contest in police partnerships, as a manifestation of contradictions in the wider socio-political climate; the role of the state, empirically and normatively, in policing through partnerships. My argument is that the state does and should have a vital role in police partnerships, although not without it being regulated through an independent and socially representative body, such as a community safety or policing commission.