Addressing the issue of redefining citizenship in Europe, this article discusses the ways in which community policing and police officers are helping to construct current notions of citizenship throughout Europe. Focusing on the political construction of policing and police officers’ functions, the author maintains that a new line of research addressing and comparing France and Catalonia, Spain, is able to inform researchers about cultural continuity and breaking with the past. The author suggests that studies of various policing cultures in Europe need to be addressed through comparative research methods in order to illustrate the ways in which a new axis between old and new is being developed. (Publisher's abstract)