Policing before and after the police - The historical antecedents of contemporary crime control

The extent and import of changes in contemporary crime control are hotly contested. By setting these changes in historical perspective, this article challenges claims that we are entering a new era in policing. Examining the eighteenth-century antecedents of present developments reveals the explanatory value of historical perspective and the relevance of Enlightenment political theory for the present governance of policing. Teasing out enduring motifs in crime control suggests that the symbolic monopoly on policing asserted by the modern criminal justice state may just be a historical blip in a longer-term pattern of multiple policing providers and markets in security. Loss of this monopoly only intensifies state responsibility to uphold policing as a public good.