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6 - Reform, Restructure and Rebrand: Cursory Solutions to Historically Entrenched Policing Problems
- Edited by Roxana Pessoa Cavalcanti, University of Brighton, Peter Squires, University of Brighton, Zoha Waseem, University of Warwick
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- Book:
- Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives on Policing, Security and Social Order
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 18 January 2024
- Print publication:
- 18 May 2023, pp 105-118
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Summary
Introduction
The acknowledgement of state police as important sociopolitical actors is not new (Tankebe, 2008). For many former colonies with complex diasporic histories, state police have always played a critical role in the establishment and maintenance of law and order, and often served as the most visible representation of the character of governance (Bayley, 2005). The contemporary shift in focus to a less confrontational image of police premised on the maintenance of democratic rule is largely viewed as an attempt to learn from past experiences (both local and foreign) and to disassociate from a British colonial policing model grounded in turbulent decolonization processes (Sinclair, 2017). For many countries in the global South, particularly small-island developing states (SIDS), attempts at rebranding police have neither significantly impacted police legitimacy nor positively impacted on community perceptions of police or policing (Trnka, 2011; Watson, 2016; Stamatakis, 2019; Adams, 2020). In such contexts, police legitimacy and accountability are constantly questioned.
The authenticity of the police ‘service’ agenda tends to be underscored by allegations of undemocratic and unlawful policing practices, along with large-scale public distrust and strongly expressed dissatisfaction with police and policing (Jauregui, 2013; Watson, 2016). Though different histories of colonial subjugation have shaped discourses on police and policing practices, several themes centred on questions of police legitimacy, fairness, susceptibility to political influence, lawfulness and monopoly of power remain concurrent throughout existing literature. Attempts at image management, posturing to gain public popularity and rebranding for improved relations with the public suggest either an awareness of a problem with the way police are perceived by the public or an identified need to revise policing strategies for improved service delivery (or both). What is evident is that the model of policing in former colonies remains a work in progress.
This chapter echoes sentiments about the importance of acknowledging colonial undercurrents that continue to inform governance processes which pervade concepts of law-and-order maintenance and enforcement. It draws on examples from Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) to support arguments about the proliferation of problematic policing models, demonstrative of the disconnect between the state and the larger populace.
48 - Policing Rural Small Island Developing States
- Edited by Alistair Harkness, University of New England, Australia, Jessica René Peterson, Southern Oregon University, Matt Bowden, Technological University, Dublin, Cassie Pedersen, Federation University Australia, Joseph Donnermeyer, Ohio State University
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- Book:
- The Encyclopedia of Rural Crime
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 June 2023
- Print publication:
- 21 November 2022, pp 195-197
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Summary
In most countries across the globe, police serve as the most visible arm of governance and have primary responsibility for the maintenance of law and order. For many countries, state police operate parallel to non-state regulatory bodies. However, the legitimacy of actors in varied policing contexts differs and is at times acknowledged, challenged or disregarded.
In rural contexts, where there is usually a lesser presence of state-appointed police, the responsibility for the maintenance of law and order is usually shared with non-state actors (see Mawby and Yarwood, 2016). The acknowledgement of contextual differences and the recognition of spatial distribution as impacting factors on policing primarily underscores rural policing scholarship.
Despite an initial primary focus on mining, fishing and agriculture-related crimes in sparsely settled areas on the distant outskirts of urban metropoles in developed countries, rural policing scholarship has shifted towards a broader focus. Recent scholarship on rural policing now explores societal manifestations of dysfunction in sparsely inhabited areas across the globe, contextually considered the inverse of the urban. These shifts have also resulted in further acknowledgement of the variations in understandings of rurality and the recognition of additional categories of spaces identified as ‘rural’, specifically rural areas in small island developing states (SIDS).
A total of 58 SIDS with a combined population of 65 million people have been identified by the United Nations. These SIDS tend to be characterized by geographic location and topography, population size and climatic and economic vulnerabilities. Many SIDS have rural economies and are further characterized as multi-island microstates dispersed across the Atlantic, Caribbean, the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the South China Sea.
For microstates, explanations of rurality are expanded to account for remote or outer islands (usually only accessible by irregularly scheduled petrol patrol boats) away from capital cities, towns or central business districts; as well as areas more densely populated than urban city centres that bare all the other characteristics of rural areas. The location, limited resource availability, remoteness, high transportation costs and high reliance on external support contribute to SIDS development and economic diversification challenges (see Newton, 1998).