Abstract
Rural policing, with a few notable exceptions, has been largely absent from the geographic and criminology literature. Yet, examining rural policing is important for revealing details about rural society, and the role that the police play in controlling rural space. Using participant observation and interview data collected as part of a wider study exploring anti-social behaviour (ASB) in rural Scotland, this paper calls for a more nuanced understanding of rural policing. In order to fully conceptualise the response of the police to ASB in these rural locations, the role of discretion, negotiated order maintenance and police–community interactions need to be considered. These dimensions are considered to lie at the core of the response of the police to ASB in rural Scotland. Existing urban-based policing typologies are helpful for beginning to understand the multiple ways that the police control territory. Yet they are of limited relevance to some of the challenges identified with policing rural contexts, namely the scale of the environment, the lack of back-up and the forms of ASB that are common in rural locations. This paper concludes by arguing that the rural needs to be (re)conceptualised as a distinct, challenging and variable policing environment, with particular contextual factors that need to be considered.
Highlights
Rural studies and geography more broadly have largely neglected scholarly work examining the police and policing (Fyfe, 1991; Mawby and Yarwood, 2011)
Rural locations are a key area of study in relation to policing and the police in Scotland, because 94% of the country is classed as rural using the six-fold urbanerural Scottish Government classification (Scottish Government, 2010a), and because examining rural policing reveals important details about rural society and the role that the police play in controlling rural space (Mawby and Yarwood, 2011)
The paper concludes by arguing that the distinctiveness of the police response to issues of anti-social behaviour (ASB) in rural areas means that the term ‘rural policing’ is a better conceptualisation of the distinct challenges facing rural officers than ‘policing in rural areas’
Summary
Rural studies and geography more broadly have largely neglected scholarly work examining the police and policing (Fyfe, 1991; Mawby and Yarwood, 2011). It is important to challenge the existing ASB policies which typically treat ‘the rural’ as a single dimension where (urban) policy gets enacted with little consideration for local context and scale Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to understand a set of key practices which structure the response of the police to ASB in rural Scotland. These practices relate to the use of discretion, policeecommunity interaction and the situated knowledge that rural police officers tend to have of the community in which they police. The paper concludes by arguing that the distinctiveness of the police response to issues of ASB in rural areas means that the term ‘rural policing’ is a better conceptualisation of the distinct challenges facing rural officers than ‘policing in rural areas’
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
