Towards a more comprehensive understanding of plural policing. The customs administration as a hybrid policing body

• In Event: POL Panel 3. Plural Policing

Abstract

Theoretical debates on the concepts of plural policing and security governance have been central to criminological scholarship. In general, these notions refer to the various forms of security provision by a broad range of public, private and hybrid actors. Although a considerable amount of plural policing literature has been published on the nature and role of public and private actors, such as the police and private security companies, their ‘hybrid’ counterparts have, however, received much less criminological attention. This is surprising, given the expanding role and powers of a number of mostly state hybrid bodies engaged in policing.
So far, authors have been referring to these kind of hybrid organisations as ‘other’, ‘specialist’ or ‘non-police’ policing bodies. By this, they describe the agents and bodies providing policing services, other than the public police itself. Yet, since there is a notable paucity of empirical research focussing on these hybrid security actors, current theoretical discussions and studies on policing still depart from the dominant and most visible public and private security actors.
In an attempt to overcome theoretical vagueness surrounding the hybrid and ‘non-police’ bodies, we examine the role and nature of one such organisation, the Belgian customs administration. Specifically, it is studied in terms of its sectoral, spatial, legal, functional and geographical involvement in the provision of security.
In this research, we demonstrate the existence of a complex ensemble of security functions and roles, shifting between and across public actors, with policing powers which surpass each other in particular cases. As such, and based on our findings, we call for more in-depth policing classifications which take into account the relevance, role and functions of these hybrid actors.

Authors

• Femke Lenjou, Ghent University

• Pieter Leloup, Ghent University/Free University of Brussels