Being a New Police in the Liquid 21st Century

Abstract

This article explores new ways in which the police are thinking about, or should be thinking about their role in a plural, neo-liberal, and networked society. It draws on the vision developed by the Nexus Policing Project of the Victoria Police, Australia. This article argues that the public police have clung onto the dream that they are able to monopolise policing. We argue that this is but a dream and that the police need to reconfigure their self-identity and their role definition to fit with the contemporary policing landscape. We explore some real practical implications that this might have for police officers who are constantly under pressure to reinvent themselves.