This contribution focuses on military assistance of the Dutch police with forensic expertise by the army (not being the Dutch gendarmerie, the Koninklijke Marechaussee). The assistance basically consists of helping with search activities, with analysis and observations, all key functions within policing. The central question is: to what extent is this specific military assistance an example of plural policing? Today the armed forces are an essential part of a wider security policy, because the various types of national and international security are increasingly interconnected. This stresses the importance to involve the army in social (national) security. The forensic military assistance the authors studied does, however, not comprise law enforcement or patrolling in public spaces. With that in mind, this kind of assistance cannot automatically be labelled as plural policing. On the other hand, the military assistance contributes to a safe society and from that point of view it is an example of plural policing.

Recently, we conducted a study on drug trafficking criminal networks in a Dutch town. In this article, we examine the results of this study by assessing the development of criminal networks and the way in which individuals get involved with these networks. Our analysis of the qualitative data focuses on three central empirical findings derived from earlier (mainly Dutch) research on criminal networks. A first outcome of earlier studies was that criminal networks are not based on a specific kind of crime and therefore do not resemble goal driven companies. Our fieldwork suggests, however, that the networks seemed less ‘flat’ and more goal driven than previously assumed. Second, earlier studies conclude that the structure of social opportunities facilitates a subjects’ inclination towards committing crime. Our study seems to confirm this finding: social pressure from peers and family is strong and encourages involvement in drug trafficking networks. Finally, earlier research pointed out that involvement in criminal networks was not a result of intentional recruitment. In our study we found – anecdotic – evidence of the opposite. We found evidence that suggests that most youth criminals are not ‘persisters’, however, mobs may serve as gateways to organised crime.