Tara Fenwick, Richard Dockrell & Bonnie SladeProPEL, University of Stirling

RURAL POLICINGUnderstanding Police Knowledge and

Practice in Rural Communities

the context• Geographic barriers –

distance, mountains, weather, sea

• Isolation• Extreme variations in

geographic and socio-cultural regions

• Mandatory transfer policy

Identify unique challenges of policing practice and knowledge in rural Scotland

Explore present responses to these challenges (skills, practices, resources, leadership)

Suggest implications for work arrangements and leadership to support professional learning

the aims

what we did …Qualitative research study with 34 participants:

• 11 interviews, 6 focus groups• face-to-face, skype, telephone• 31 men, 3 women• Chief Constable (1), Deputy Chief Constable (1), Chief

Superintendent (1), Superintendent (1), Chief Inspector (2), Inspector (10), Sergeant (3), Constable (14), Probationer (1)

• Almost 400 years combined experience across all 8 Area Commands of Northern

Interview Q

uestionsNature of rural policing

• most important aspects of policing in Northern – the things that have the greatest impact?

• differences between rural communities in Northern and how do these differences impact on policing?

Nature of criminality and challenges of police work in rural areas• the pattern and nature of crime • impactful police initiatives to reduce and prevent crime • the most difficult challenges to policing in rural areas

Management in rural policing• recruitment and training • management style, supervision and leadership• level of autonomy in managing police services• challenges for managing and supervising rural police work • best approaches to training and management development for rural police work

Rural policing as community engagement• the role of policing a rural environment - strict law enforcer, mediator and ‘social

service’ provider• the relationship between the police and community in this area • the ‘style’ of policing in Northern Constabulary• community engagement and influence • relationship with the communities – building trust and confidence • the most important social and economic changes being experienced by rural

communities• Relationship between the police service and other community agencies • the forms of policing that have the greatest impact on the community and best

addresses community problems?

Rural policing – towards the future• Developments over the next four or five years and how the role of rural policing

might change

Interview Q

uestions

community variances

• not one but many ruralities• distinct communities with

different ways of working with police

• must learn immediate cultural adaptation

• must learn in a fishbowl

There is a delusion that it’s going to be some sort of Hamish McBeth lifestyle, you’re going to be living in a wee village with your Scottie dog, you’re going to be out on the push bike round the village saying hello to the baker and the minister, but the reality is – well it’s not the reality at all.

• primary role = ‘mediator’• legitimacy in community balanced with

accountability to police standards• on call 24/7• importance of responding to ‘the mundane’• personal safety

‘you have to learn how to use your tongue and always know that there’s going to be another day’

community negotiations

• playing the long game in everyday moments• gauge the community – trust, trust, trust• educate the community about police role• inter-professional work bottom-up [inter-

operability] – working out boundaries, roles

You can get support from the coast guard and from the military we have used that in the past. Well there is a lot of informality to it, but again it goes back to

relationship building, but there are formal processes.

learning the ‘long lasting fix’

being in or of the community• constant visibility• no hiding place, no down time• on/off duty blurred• family is implicated in duty• simultaneous outsider / insider• and just when you’re settled …

“One of the strengths for us, and because of the geography it can’t be any other way, is that our officers still live and work within their local community .. we are embedded

within the communities across the force area”

‘inventive knowings’

strategic work-arounds to stretch resources and solve problems

‘It’s covering a 12 foot room with an 8 foot carpet’

Strategies to stretch resources

• splitting self/stopping time

• deputize others• reframe situation• symbolic material

gestures• what works

• Community variances• Community negotiations• Learning the lasting fix• Being in or of the community

The themes

“There isn’t just one policing style, a small rural police force, within it there are significant differences in policing style and policing approaches”

1. What is new or surprising in these findings? 2. What could the public be made more aware

of? 3. What practices could be more encouraged

and supported? 4. What are implications for assessment and

reporting of police activity?

Questions for you to consider