Abstract
Reviewed by: Francis D Boateng, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA
Criminal activities on the waterfront have long been recognized as a major problem facing maritime port authorities around the world. Although the majority of the people and businesses that patronize the ports do so legitimately, some engage in all types of illegal activities, including trafficking of drugs, humans, and protected species. Most of these criminals are individuals who have inside knowledge of the port. Their positions as port workers enable them to plan and execute illegal activities without trace or detection. Due to the complex nature of the crimes committed, inter-agency collaboration is needed to control crime on the waterfront—crime control is just not a responsibility of any single agency. In Policing the Waterfront: Networks, Partnerships, and the Governance of Port Security, Russell Brewer offers a critical analysis of crime committed on the waterfront, and champions a discussion on how to control such behaviors. In so doing, the author draws on both quantitative and qualitative approaches to compare and evaluate crime control efforts at two of the busiest ports in America (Los Angeles) and Australia (Melbourne).
Divided into three parts, with each discussing critical issues related to waterfront criminality, the monograph makes a compelling argument, suggesting that network connections of trust and social capital are the necessary building blocks for effective inter-agency collaborations to address crime on the waterfront. In Part I, the author paints a clear picture of crime and policing on the waterfront (Chapter 1) and discusses the evolution of collaborative crime control (Chapter 2). Specifically, Chapter 1 explores the nature of the crime problem and the threats facing waterfronts in the 21st century. The chapter also discusses public responses in safeguarding the waterfront from illegal activities, and argues that addressing port vulnerabilities go beyond the boundaries of the public policing services, and require coordinated efforts from several agencies. Chapter 2 takes the discussion further by “charting the increasing reliance on inter-agency partnerships across state actors in the crime control space” (p. 32). Likewise, the text explores the role of private actors in preventing crime on the waterfront. Pertaining to all joint effort strategies, collaborative approaches to controlling illicit activities at the marine ports have some limitations, and the author did well by highlighting some of the problems associated with co-production of crime control.
Part II of Policing the Waterfront is divided into three chapters and offers a collective and detail presentation of the two case study waterfronts. In Chapter 3, the author introduces the two case study ports (Melbourne and Los Angeles) and provides descriptive evaluations of each. Moreover, the chapter explores the various actors—both private and public—who share security responsibility on the Melbourne and Los Angeles waterfronts. Noted by the author, the protection of port of Melbourne takes place at both state and federal levels, and at each level, there are myriad actors. In short, this chapter presents a complete picture of the complex nature of policing the American and Australian waterfronts.
Chapters 4 and 5 present the findings from the two case studies in detail. Chapter 4 examines the Los Angeles case and demonstrates how the various actors on the waterfront form security networks in America. Brewer’s discussion also underscores the importance of social capital in controlling crime and disorder on the Los Angeles waterfront and argues that “generative crime control partnerships between public and private stakeholders necessitate robust networks and norms…” (p. 101). However, results of the analysis indicate that social capital is less pervasive across the public–private divide. In Chapter 5, a similar analysis is made of the Melbourne waterfront. Just as in Chapter 4, this chapter explores how myriad private and public actors control crime on the waterfront from an Australian perspective. The chapter further assesses the significance of social capital in building policing and security partnership in Australia, and by evaluating network ties, social structures, and trust, the author thoroughly scrutinizes the pervasiveness of social capital. The Australian analysis shows a minimal level of security network functionality, primarily due to the scantiness of social capital across the public and private sectors. Comparatively, the author shows evidence to suggest that the Americans have been more successful in creating and utilizing social capital than the Australians.
The final part (Part III) offers reflections and concludes the discussions of the previous chapters. The only chapter in this part—Chapter 6—provides a summary of the key arguments made in the previous chapters and builds upon findings from Chapters 4 and 5 to illustrate how future crime control efforts might be reformed to establish social capital in order to achieve effective partnerships.
It is widely acknowledged that policing on the waterfront is challenging and difficult, and to have a maximum gain, resources from multiple agencies have to be harnessed. Inter-agency collaboration is therefore pivotal in securing the waterfront from unlawful activities perpetrated by criminally minded individuals. Brewer’s book is a comprehensive text, which not only educates readers the crime issues facing port authorities but also provides a comparative context for evaluating these issues. This book is useful to array of individuals, including criminologists, police scholars, security analysts, and sociologists. Policing the Waterfront: Networks, Partnerships, and the Governance of Port Security provides readers with an analytic glimpse of the reality of crime on the waterfront.