Chasing Moving Targets in Rural Spaces: Local Policing and Drug-Related Interventions

Abstract

Globalization in rural areas is commonly described in terms of both challenges and opportunities. Opportunities include increased communication and reduced distance. These factors, however, are also favorable for illicit activities such as increased opportunities for marketing drugs on the Internet and reduced barriers for transporting drugs. The drug industry is global and involves cross-site processes, but the drug problem is very local. This article discusses how drug activities infiltrate the work of professionals in rural places and the way this affects rural people and their living environment. In local communities, the police have the authority to counteract the spread and use of drugs, an authority that is described as geographically thinned. That is, police as well as other professionals combating the effects of drug abuse are affected as local cooperation, which is often encouraged by short distances, dense networks, and local knowledge, is weakened. Using a qualitative interview approach, this study argues that local practices related to prevention of drug-related crime are poorly equipped to deal with the speed and range of the contemporary drug trade.