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Purpose This paper aims to contribute towards our knowledge and understanding of volunteer street patrols working within community safety and pluralised policing. Through the increased responsibilisation of communities and individuals, volunteers are taking to the streets to help others in need and support the community safety infrastructure. The example of volunteer street patrols is used to explore the motivations of individuals participating in the local delivery of community safety and policing. Design/methodology/approach This research is drawn from ethnographic research consisting of 170 hours of participant observation on the streets of a northern UK city, Manchester, supported by 24 semi-structured interviews with volunteers and stakeholders who participate in a street patrol and those working alongside them. Findings Using a three-paradigm perspective for volunteer motivations, the themes altruism, civil connection and volunteering for leisure are applied to explore volunteer motivations. Through their actions, volunteers in the street patrol are motivated volunteers who can offer an additional and important resource within the local community safety and pluralised policing infrastructure. Originality/value This paper highlights volunteer street patrols offer a caring and supportive function to people in need on the street, one in support of the police and other agencies. It contributes to the growing understanding of those who volunteer in policing and community safety landscapes. As responsibilised citizens, they have an increased awareness of social problems. They are motivated individuals who wish to create and maintain safety and play an important role in policing the night-time economy.

The pluralized policing landscape now widely involves volunteers and the voluntary sector. Volunteer street patrols (VSPs) are individuals who walk the streets of cities and towns at night. Their actions include helping those in need through acts of care, compassion, and prevention. Numerous implications exist for the volunteers who participate in this form of voluntary action, including the level to which volunteers contribute and intervene, the functions they perform within contemporary policing, and the challenges of developing and maintaining relationships with the police and other emergency services. This article argues that VSPs offer a unique and welcomed source of support to the police, providing functions the police are unable to perform. The relationship provides validity, accountability, and opportunity for the volunteers. Over reliance, increased responsibilization and challenges for volunteers delivering policing services highlight tensions in the relationship, which in turn create opportunities to develop meaningful partnerships.