Button’s (2002) Private Policing provides a comprehensive review of recent trends in the sector and the implications of private security in terms of their historical development, regulation, and social implications. White’s (2010) study of the regulation of private policing also provides a strong overview of the development of the sector.

Crawford and Lister’s (2006) article, ‘Additional Security Patrols in Residential Areas: Notes from the Marketplace’, also explores the development of pluralised residential patrol services. They argue that competition between different agencies hinders effective security provision, that they can raise unrealistic public expecta­tions, and exacerbate local competition for limited resources.

Zedner’s (2006) article in the British Journal of Criminology compares and contrasts elements of plural policing in the era before the establishment of the Metropolitan Police and contemporary debates. Unlike some commentators she does not argue either that all is new in the contemporary period, or that current developments amount to a straightforward reversion to pre-modern patterns of policing. Instead Zedner examines specific aspects of current developments in their particular context and so provides a nuanced analysis of changes and continuities.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA), established by the 2001 Private Security Industry Act, provides a relatively light-touch regulation of the sector. The SIA website outlines its role (https://www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Pages/home.aspx) and the process by which it licenses the industry. The site addresses the nature of the licensing process that it oversees, and responds to some criticisms of the system. 

The extent and long-standing of the security industry are demonstrated by the breadth of topics covered by the American Society of Industrial Security, which was established in 1955 and has approximately 35,000 members organised into more than 200 ‘chapters’ worldwide. The ASIS website, www.asisonline.org, provides details of its work and the security industry more generally. 

The website of the National Community Safety Network (https://communitysafetynet.com/) contains a host of resources relating to the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and the growing range of agencies engaged in policing.

The impact of security patrols on public perceptions and expectations is analysed in: Crawford, A. and Lister, S. (2006) ‘Additional Security Patrols in Residential Areas: Notes from the Marketplace’, Policing and Society, 16(4): 164–88.

The development of ‘user-pays’ policing – where public police charge for services – is analysed in: Ayling, J. and Shearing, C. (2008) ‘Taking Care of Business – Public Police as Commercial Security Vendors’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 8: 27–50.

The regulation of private policing across Europe is reviewed in: Button, M. (2007) ‘Assessing the Regulation of Private Security across Europe’, European Journal of Criminology, 4: 109–28.

Theoretical debates relating to the development of plural policing and the changing nature of the state are identified and reviewed in: Crawford, A. (2006) ‘Networked Governance and the Post-Regulatory State? Steering, Rowing and Anchoring the Provision of Policing and Security’, Theoretical Criminology, 10: 449–79.