European Journal of Policing Studies
Article

Plural Policing of Public Places in France

Between Private and Local Policing
Keywords France, public security, privatization, plural policing, public space, governance of security
Authors François Bonnet, Jacques de Maillard en Sebastian Roché
DOI 10.5553/EJPS/2034760X2015002003005
Author's information

François Bonnet
Francois Bonnet (PhD, Sociology, Sciences Po Paris, 2006) is a CNRS assistant research professor at Pacte (Grenoble). His work has been published in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and a number of French journals. He works on the production of social order (corresp.: frabonnet@gmail.com).

Jacques de Maillard
Jacques de Maillard is Professor of Political Science at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin, deputy-director of the Cesdip (a research centre affiliated to the CNRS, the University of Versailles and the ministry of Justice) and member of the Institut Universitaire de France. His interests lie in the questions of governance of security, plural policing, police reforms and the comparative study of policing in European countries. He has published in these areas (Revue française de science politique, Revue française de sociologie, Policing and Society, European Journal of Criminology, etc.).

Sebastian Roché
Sebastian Roché is a research professor at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in PACTE - Sciences-Po (Institute of Political Science), University of Grenoble, France). He is specialized in the field of criminology (juvenile crime and juvenile justice, comparative policing) and has published more than ten books as well as dozens of articles (in Crime and Justice, European Journal of Criminology, Canadian Journal of Criminology, Revue Française de Science Politique).

  • Abstract

      This paper analyzes the changing public/private as well as central/local relationships for the provision of public security in public places in France. It describes the emergence and development of a now frequent public-private mix in policing, based on the hot issue of regulating social behaviours in public places. The significance of the French model in terms of the nature of privatization and pluralization is then discussed and compared to international trends. The rise of a local level public-private mix, while not unique in Europe, appears as a major shift in a French environment traditionally characterized by the structural centralization of its public forces.

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