Plural policing contemporary New Zealand: insights into state power, actors and relational dynamics

Abstract

New Zealand has a very plural policing landscape, though little is known about many of its facets. This article provides initial answers to three crucial questions: Who plays a policing role in contemporary New Zealand, how is state power exercised, and what shapes state-society-policing relations? The findings show that neoliberalism has strongly affected state-society-policing relations, and several actors across the state and society divide partake in police-centred partnerships. It also finds that state-society-policing relations reflect ideological, political and socioeconomic divisions inherent in contemporary New Zealand but arching back to its founding days. This emerges through analysing how the two main community-led policing initiatives, the Community Patrols New Zealand and the Māori wardens, relate to the police and the state. The findings matter beyond New Zealand and academia. They reiterate that plural policing is one of the primary expressions of how power is exercised in society, and it affects issues related to state legitimacy and social justice.