Rural Policing and Policing the Rural (Perspectives on Rural Policy and Planning)

Policing is now a central concern in the rural policies of many neo-liberal governments and rural crime has also been the subject of increasing and critical scrutiny by academics. A multi-disciplinary team of leading scholars here bring together case studies from throughout developed countries to examine the performance of police and policing in rural areas. Making a clear distinction between the police (as a particular institution) and policing, it firstly recognises that rural policing is performed by a wide range of public, private and voluntary agencies, and then uses theories of rural governance to explore how, why and to what extent these agencies operate in partnership with each other. The book also argues that rurality, policing and criminality are socially constructed and policing therefore rests on the ways in which the police, public and other agencies regulate themselves and each other according to the dominant ideals of society.