Rural Police Research Articles

Review of Rural Policing and Policing the Rural: A Constable Countryside? Rob I. Mawby and Richard Yarwood (Eds.)

No abstract available.

Repeated and Systematic Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Areas in Sweden

Violence against women lacks geographical boundaries, although research demonstrates higher rates of such violence in rural areas compared to urban areas. The repeated and systematic intimate partner violence (IPV) is especially problematic in isolated areas. This study aims to investigate how repeated and systematic IPV, was handled by the criminal justice system in rural areas in Sweden and how risk and victim vulnerability factors were related to recidivism in this longitudinal prospective study. The sample consisted of alleged perpetrators of repeated and systematic IPV who had been either reported, charged, or convicted of repeated and systematic IPV defined according to the Swedish Law Gross Violation of a Woman’s Integrity targeting such violence, in two rural Swedish police districts during 2011–2014 (N = 258). Results demonstrated that 30% of IPV perpetrators were charged with the Gross violation offense and 5% were charged for other IPV-related offenses. The conviction for the Gross violation offense was 11% and 24% for other IPV-related offenses. 56% were not charged or convicted of any IPV-related offenses. Perpetrators convicted of the Gross Violation offense were more likely to receive longer prison sentences than perpetrators convicted of other IPV-related offenses. Victim cooperation in the police investigation increased the likelihood for prosecution with 7.3 times and for a conviction with 6.1 times. In terms of recidivism 24% engaged in IPV towards the same victim and another 27% recidivated into general criminality. Recidivists had higher summary risk ratings and more individual risk factors than non-recidivists, such as general criminality, employment problems and mental health problems, and victim vulnerability factors including personal problems. To reduce re-victimization, risk and vulnerability factors and supporting victims to cooperate in the police investigation should be considered when forming risk management strategies to protect victims of repeated and systematic IPV in such rural areas.

‘They call us for everything’: cynicism, rural policing and youth justice

ABSTRACT While researchers have studied police cynicism in urban contexts, few have studied cynicism in relation to rural policing and even less in relation to police responses to young people in these settings. In the current article, we respond by addressing the complex ways cynicism manifests in the rural policing of young people. Based on 104 semi-structured interviews and focus groups (n = 31) with 134 rural police officers in Atlantic Canada, we demonstrate that cynicism manifests in rural policing as role confusion, in relation to recalcitrant young people, the lack of organisational support, inefficacy of youth justice systems, and insufficient support from parents of young people in conflict with the law. Our findings highlight the value of community and organisational support, resources, and trust that are particularly salient in rural settings.

Policing in the COVID-19 pandemic: are rural police organizations immune?

PurposeThis study examined how rural police agencies have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from various sources, this study first analyzed what factors influenced agency preparedness to respond to pandemics. Second, it examined how the pandemic influenced specific organizational practices.FindingsFindings revealed that as coronavirus infections increased in counties, supervisors were more likely be tasked with inspecting personal protective equipment (PPE), agencies were more likely to offer pandemic related training, health tracking of officers was more likely to occur and agencies were more likely to encounter a shortage of officers. In addition, as rurality increased, agencies were more likely to offer training but less likely to experience officers contracting COVID-19 and an officer shortage. Lastly, as the rurality of the county in which the agency resides increased, the ability to supply PPE decreased.Practical implicationsBased on these findings, it is imperative that rural police agencies give attention to risk management and the formulation of policy to prepare for public health emergencies.Originality/valueWhile knowledge about how large police agencies in the United States have responded during the coronavirus pandemic is building, little is known about rural policing during pandemics.

Jacks (and Jills) of all Trades: The Gentle Art of Policing Rural Iceland

ABSTRACT Rural police officers confront unique professional challenges and opportunities. Little research exists on these dynamics, and most empirical knowledge of rural policing comes from the United States, Britain, and Australia. This study helps to address this gap by examining what rural police officers in Iceland present as their main professional challenges and opportunities. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 23 police officers. The interviewees framed understaffing, overwork, an extensive range of tasks with little to no backup, and a blurring of work-life boundaries as the main challenges of rural policing. Working in tight-knit rural communities, however, offers rural police officers opportunities to develop a broad skillset, innovate, and mobilize the community’s social capital. Most importantly, rural police officers must master the art of soft policing, which requires superior communication skills centred on extensive dialogue, negotiation, de-escalation, and minimal use of force to build trust and consensus. Iceland’s egalitarian and tight-knit society, which fosters public trust in the police, cooperation, and informal social control, helps officers in this regard. The findings reveal a distinct ‘rural police professionalism’ that extends beyond the workplace and overlaps with and complements ‘urban police professionalism’.

A case study of rural crime and policing in Pomurje region in Slovenia

Rural environments are specific for some crime forms, which can be divided into four categories: 1) agricultural or farm crime, 2) equine crime, 3) wildlife crime, and 4) heritage crime (Hacin and Eman, 2019). Pomurje is one of the most remote and least developed regions in Slovenia, where the rural environment predominates. In the article, the rural crime occurrence and related rural policing in areas of Pomurje are discussed. We analysed crime statistics and conducted structured interviews with the commanders of five police stations in the area of Police Directorate Murska Sobota, where each police station's area has its specifics with accordingly organized police work. Individual criminal offences are typical in all areas and do not differ from criminal offences in urban areas (e.g., theft, robbery, vandalism, fraud). Illegal migration, crime related to motorway stops along the Pomurje motorway, environmental crime, crime related to Roma, domestic violence, especially against the women and elderly, and the production of illegal drugs are the most prominent forms of rural crime in the Pomurje region. Socio-economic factors of smaller environments are reflected in rural settings and impact crime and policing. The police work in rural areas depends on residents' trust and respect for the police. This significantly affects the resident's willingness to cooperate with the police. Small size, mutual knowledge, and coherence reduce police operations' rigor and affect police officers' judgment. Police officers in Pomurje stick to the words 'together with the people for a safe local community'. Results show that police officers in a rural environment perceive neighbourhood safety more positively than colleagues in the urban environment. Good interpersonal relations and cooperation with the residents, committed and professional police officers, and management support are essential factors for successful policing in rural areas, reflected in a high percentage of investigated criminal offences.

Effective Citizen Engagement in Community Policing: The Lessons and Experience of Taiwan

Community policing has gradually drawn attention in many countries since the 1990s. This new policing strategy can prevent crime, while also increasing citizen participation and justifying democratic policing. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Taiwan police agencies have adopted community policing. The practice includes the planning of police beats, community fora on safety issues, and service-orientated policing. Since one of the core tenets of community policing is citizen participation and engagement, why do some police agencies differ within the same country? To answer this question, this paper builds a simple framework showing how a variety of external and internal factors can affect citizen engagement in community policing. The qualitative data was collected in diverse urban and rural police stations. This study provides a better understanding of how to promote citizen engagement in community policing.

Sexual Violence in Rural Places: Policy Implication for First-Responding Law Enforcement Officers

Sexual violence is a public health issue impacting many Americans, with girls and women disproportionately victimized. While sexual offenses remain underreported, media has recently spotlighted high-profile cases. However, understanding sexual assaults in rural areas remains absent in mainstream conversation. Studies show rural communities are not smaller versions of their urban neighbors as they harbor old-fashioned values, maintain secrecy, and rely on informal social controls that influence how citizens respond to sexual violence, including law enforcement. Yet, existing literature on law enforcement responses to sexual violence are mostly centralized in urban areas with a focus on the investigative process—ignoring rural dynamics and the impact first-responding law enforcement officers have on survivor perceptions of policing practices. As such, the current review summarizes the impact law enforcement has on sexual violence survivors, focusing on rural policing, and ending with an all-encompassing policy to better serve both law enforcement and sexual violence survivors.

English rural policing: job stress and psychological distress

PurposeJob stressor exposure is associated with mental health in police officers. Police stress research rarely draws a distinction between urban and rural policing, raising the possibility that stressors specific to the rural context remain unidentified and their implications unknown. This may hinder actions to protect the mental health of those involved in policing rural communities.Design/methodology/approachAmong rural policing teams in an English county police force this study used an exploratory sequential mixed method design to (1) identify and quantify exposure to rural policing stressors and (2) examine links between job stressor exposure and psychological distress.FindingsInterviews (N = 34) identified three rural policing job stressor themes: (1) job demands, (2) isolation and (3) critical decisions. Survey data (N = 229) indicated significant differences in exposure by rank to demand and critical decision stressors, with police community support officers (PCSOs) reporting lower exposure than officers of constable and sergeant rank. Overall, 44% of respondents reported symptoms of psychological distress indicative of likely minor psychiatric disorder; higher levels of psychological distress were associated with higher stressor exposure across all three job stressor themes for PCSOs and constables and within the job demand theme for sergeants.Originality/valueFindings point towards practical actions focussed on resource provision for officers and a research strategy to ameliorate the impact of stressors in English rural policing.

La mediación escolar rural y su potencial en el fomento de la mediación policial

Con el objetivo de describir el estado actual de la mediación escolar en el sector rural para utilizarlo en el servicio de Policía como herramienta que potencialice el uso de la mediación Policial en las comunidades rurales se desarrolló una investigación documental de carácter cualitativo que permitió establecer una contextualización de la ruralidad, la escolaridad en dicha zona, los conflictos educativos que se presentan, la mediación por parte de pares para revolverlos y su relación con la mediación policial.
 Valga decir que el principal hallazgo es la poca existencia de experiencias significativas que documenten este aspecto y por consiguiente no existe fundamentos para hablar de una mediación escolar exitosa que ofrezca insumos para potenciar la mediación policial, por lo tanto luego de la discusión propia que ofrecieron los resultados y ante la imposibilidad de pensar en aportes de la mediación escolar a la mediación policial cuando la primera no existe sino teóricamente; se optó invertir la propuesta para que desde la institucionalidad de la Policía Nacional se proyecte la mediación escolar rural y, a un futuro, esta sea el fundamento de la mediación policial rural.

Organizational psychological studies in a county of the Hungarian Police – comparison of two departments

Organizational psychological studies deal with the assessment and interpretation of psychological processes taking place in an organization. In the organization of the Police, these studies are carried out by answering managerial questions which are composed using empirical experiences and theories of organizational psychology. The present study compares the results of organizational psychological surveys of two rural police departments, with an emphasis on social indicators. It attempts to present how McGregor’s X and Y theory as the management’s approach to their employees affect the working community of the Police. The results clearly indicate that in one department, the management’s approach has a positive, while in the other department, it has a negative effect on the individuals and the whole organization unit. The comparison indicates that the management’s approach can have a significant role in shaping the results of the organizational psychological study. Therefore, it is important to take the management’s approach into consideration when dealing with organizational problems and establishing the organizational human strategy.

Rural Policing, Youth and Overlapping Fields of Youth Justice

In the current article, we document the changing roles and responsibilities related to the implementation of the Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act ( YCJA). Police officers’ experiences and responses to the implementation of the YCJA reveal a disparity between the officers’ idealised role and their actual tasks involving youth. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of the habitus and field, we consider the field of youth justice and its effects on rural policing strategies in Canada. We consider the shifting standard for police behaviours from data gathered through interviews and focus groups with police officers. We find standards in the field of policing shift to reflect new realities enacted with the YCJA.

Understanding Police Work in the Remote Northern isles of Scotland: The Extraordinary Ordinariness of Island Policing

Remote islands are at the periphery of thinking about policing both in theory and in practice. Despite a rich tradition of police research, studies of rural policing are rare, and of policing in remote areas rarer still. Consequently, both the conceptual development of police scholarship and the development of operational policing and strategy have both been underpinned by a particular model of urban environment. This paper presents early findings from a major ethnographic study of policing in the remote Northern islands of Scotland, and considers what, if anything, is distinctive about policing in remote small islands. Drawing on over 600 hours of ethnographic fieldwork of policing and island life, this paper describes the challenges and experiences of policing in small remote islands and the form of policing these produce. It argues first, the extraordinary conditions of remote island police work engender a style which emphasises under-enforcement, transparency, and in particular a striking empathy and humanity. Second, while this police style is felt by officers to be distinctive, it is in fact at the heart of all police work. Remote islands therefore present a paradox: their extraordinary conditions result in ordinary policing. And third, the perception that remote island policing is unusual suggests that what needs explanation is not island but urban policing.

Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Urban and Rural Police Officers

The present study was carried out to investigate the difference in the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression among urban and rural police officers of the Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa province of Pakistan. The inquiry included 315 police officers from three districts of the understudied province. Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (Lovibond and Lovibond 1995) was administered. It was hypothesized that police officers working in urban areas would project higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress as compared to police officers working in rural areas. The results supported the hypotheses on significant differences.

Predicting three dimensions of police officer stress: does rural or urban setting matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the disparities in stress between rural and urban police officers in China.Design/methodology/approachData for this study were collected from a national police university in China in 2017. In total, 608 Chinese police officers were surveyed representing those attending in-service training program in the university.FindingsResults showed that rural police officers exhibited a higher level of somatization compared to their urban counterparts, whereas no rural–urban differences were detected for other stress dimensions – anxiety and depression. Additionally, this study suggests that perceived constraints in resources and training partially mediate the observed rural–urban disparities in somatization.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is based on a convenient sample of Chinese police officers, which restricts the generalizability of the results.Practical implicationsTo reduce stress among police officers, China needs to make more investments in resources and training programs in its rural policing.Originality/valueA review of literature reveals that studies comparing police stress between rural and urban areas are rare. Additionally, China, as the largest developing nation in the world, remains under-studied with respect to stress among its police officers.

The emergence of ungoverned space in the British countryside

Police and farmers in Britain have differing views on the effectiveness and measures of effectiveness of the policing of rural and farm crime. Farmers are increasingly feeling abandoned by the police while the police are trying to resource rural policing against a backdrop of budget cuts, inadequate strategic guidance and a lack of understanding of the impact of rural and farm crime.
 To obtain information on issues about farm crime, interviews were conducted with Police and Crime Commissioners and Crime Prevention Advisors across four rural police forces in England. Interviews and focus groups were also conducted with farmers.
 The research found that farmers have low levels of confidence in the police, which resulted from the police providing poor response and feedback on incidents. This in turn results in low levels of reporting of crimes by farmers. The police are dealing with increased demands with much lower budgets and few opportunities for specialist training. Combined with ineffective strategic responses and a lack of understanding of farmers’ situations regarding the impact of farm crime, the police are perceived as ineffective in deterring rural criminals.
 This paper explores these policing issues and suggests the need to improve confidence among farming communities to encourage the reporting of farm crime, enabling a better understanding of the extent of farm crime in Britain.

“I Almost Quit”: Exploring the Prevalence of the Ferguson Effect in Two Small Sized Law Enforcement Agencies in Rural Southcentral Virginia

Recent negatively publicized police-citizen interactions in the media, followed by a subsequent de-policing of police in the United States, has been named the Ferguson Effect. The Ferguson Effect has been explored by prominent scholars in the criminal justice community; however, little is known about how police officers in small rural police agencies perceive the Ferguson Effect. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of police officers regarding the Ferguson Effect in small rural police agencies, as well as police officers’ perceptions of their own organizational justice. Organizational justice theory was utilized as the theoretical lens for this study. Research questions focused on exploring police officers’ perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of the Ferguson Effect phenomenon and willingness to partner with the community. Purposeful sampling was utilized and semi structured interviews were conducted of nine active sworn law enforcement personnel in southcentral Virginia. Data were analyzed through in vivo coding, pattern coding, and structural analysis utilizing NVivo 11 Pro. Themes included: (a) racial division, (b) rush to judgment, and (c) steadfast leadership. Findings indicated participants demanded clear and fair policies and procedures from leadership, increased effort of transparency in policing, feelings of racial tension, and the need to regain community trust post-Ferguson.

Testing the impact of environmental hazards and violent conflicts on sustainable pastoral development: micro-level evidence from Nigeria

Pastoralism is often associated with a particular group of people or ethnic group whose livelihoods are mainly based on livestock production in the rangelands. With changing climatic conditions as a driving force of desertification and the mounting pressure on land due to population growth, the livestock-based livelihood strategy of pastoralism is rapidly becoming unsustainable. This study examines the impact of environmental hazards and violent conflicts on pastoral sustainability. The analysis using instrumental variable regression revealed two key findings. First, hazards and violent conflicts have strong negative effects on livestock holding. These effects can be found across all pastoral households with various sizes of livestock holding. Second, the loss of livestock is negatively affecting some critical indicators of welfare, such as income and per capita expenditure. In this sense, reducing both environmental hazards and violent conflicts is key to sustainable pastoral development. While there is a need to incorporate pastoral sustainability into the sustainable environment agenda, sustainable pastoral development not only depends on the pace but how effectively anti-climatic change, rural policing, poverty reduction and rangeland management policies are implemented.

Policing and community safety in northern Canadian communities: challenges and opportunities for crime prevention

Although there is an emerging body of research literature on rural policing, less is known about policing in small communities in Canada’s territories populated largely by Indigenous peoples. These communities are often situated in geographically isolated areas, are subjected to harsh weather conditions, and may experience high rates of crime and disorder. Drawing on interviews conducted with RCMP officers in the two Canadian territories of Yukon and Nunavut, this paper examines the dynamics of policing in northern communities and how these might affect efforts to create sustainable, effective crime prevention initiatives. The findings reveal that geographic isolation, social problems, and history of distrust of the police, combined with the structure through which police services are delivered, present significant challenges to the development and sustainability of crime prevention initiatives. The unique environments of northern communities, however, also provide opportunities for the creation of police–community partnerships built on mutual trust that can provide the basis for effective crime prevention programs.

Entitlement to Tell on Police Facebook Sites.

Despite the increased use of social media by the police, little qualitative exploration has been carried out regarding how online spaces such as Facebook might be important sites for Police Force identity. This study qualitatively analyzes a popular story told on the official Facebook site of a rural police force. It analyzes the story which is co-created by both the police and the public, and looks at how identity is created for the police through this online activity. The research finds that entitlement to tell particular stories is hotly challenged by the community and raises important questions regarding the perceived ownership of experiences in the criminal justice system. It concludes that Facebook posts might be important sites of feedback for police forces. Additionally, such sites may play an important role in trust-building and community engagement, but to realize this opportunity may require significant investment in terms of resources.