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.

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.

A History of the Gendarmerie in Niger

This chapter traces the history of the Nigerien gendarmerie. The gendarmes and their colonial predecessors—the tirailleurs, méharistes, gardes de cercle, and colonial gendarmes—have always worked in vast rural Niger, populated almost exclusively by subsistence farmers and pastoralists. Since the early twentieth century, these “strangers” have disciplined the rural population, managed the French colonial, later Nigerien national territory, spread French as the national language, established bureaucratic procedures, and imposed French colonial, then Nigerien national law. They have been advancing into a sphere they perceived as an “institutional vacuum” open to legitimate intrusion and in need of a new social order. Working between the known and the unknown, the familiar and the unfamiliar, rural police forces tried to make society legible to govern it and turn a social hieroglyph into an administratively more convenient format of numbers and texts. At the same time, they attempted to impose a normative order on what they perceive as a savage and chaotic illegitimate sphere. The gendarmes have been pushing this frontier ever since; yet it cannot be crossed—it is the bureaucratic horizon that moves with them.

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.

THE STATE AND SOCIAL INTERMEDIATION (MEDIATION) IN TRADITIONAL CHINA

The main aim of the article is to study the relationship of the institutions of social intermediation and state bodies in traditional China in the process of regulation of civil legal disputes. The law instructed judges to deal with property disputes of private individuals in person (i. e. «minor issues»); however, they thought it possible to intervene in a conflict only when all possible ways of mediation had been exhausted. The intention of the plaintiff to apply to the court immediately could be stopped by the judge's decision to transfer the civil case into a criminal one, which would threaten the plaintiff with serious adverse consequences. If the case was considered by the judge, his decisions, as a rule, were based on the Confucian principle of « ren » (humanity) and not law. Guided by this principle, the court could decide in favor of the debtor, even if his guilt was obvious before the creditor. In addition, the main method of punishment of the debtor was furtigation, which could not guarantee the performance of his obligations. In this regard, most Chinese citizens, regardless of their social status, preferred to refrain from applying to court with their civil cases. The most promising variant for them was the institute of social intermediation (mediation), represented by village headmen ( ts’ilao ) and rural police ( t’ipao ), «noble (perfect) men» ( chüntzu ) and representatives of the «scientific order» ( shênshih ), etc. State control over their brokerage activities was carried out through a system of collective responsibility paochia, and the hsiangpao , who was elected by community members and approved by the local judge. Developing ancient folk traditions, the institute of mediation at the legislative level in contemporary China is recognized as an important form of regulation of civil legal relations, existing in the form of national, commercial, administrative and labor intermediation, the main purpose of which, as in ancient times, is social harmony and stability in the country.

Referrals to the police of vulnerable adult abuse

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the outcome of referrals made to one police force in England by three local authorities between March 2010 and April 2011, in order to identify and understand the barriers to prosecuting suspects of abuse or harm against vulnerable adults, and improve inter-agency co-operation. Design/methodology/approach – All referrals to this police force are given a crime number when they are recorded on the Criminal Justice System database together with a vulnerable adult flag and a status code which indicates the outcome following a police investigation. A search of the database using the vulnerable adult flag identifies the total number of referrals and outcomes for the selected period. This can then be imported into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to allow further analysis to take place. Findings – Over 87 per cent of all referrals of alleged abuse to vulnerable adults made to this police force did not establish that a crime had been committed. Of those that did only 1 per cent resulted in either a caution or court proceedings. Research limitations/implications – This is a small sample from one, predominantly rural, police force. Originality/value – The benefit of this research is that it contributes to a greater knowledge of the outcomes of adult safeguarding referrals made, primarily, by local authorities to the police and how police disclosures, on Disclosure and Barring Service checks, are being used as a means of providing employers of regulated activities with information on individuals who have been suspected of abusing vulnerable adults.