Country cops could teach their city colleagues a thing or two about policing

Dr Andrew Wooff looks at how rural officers relate to their communities

When was the last time you saw a police officer on the beat? See you can’t think, can you? This is a question an interview participant asked merecentlyandittookmeaback.the participant was making a point about the lack of visibility of officers since Police Scotland came into being in 2013.

“Because I live in a rural community,” I state, “I actually know who my community police officer is”. “You’re lucky,” she says. “I wouldn’t have a clue who our community officer is and that makes me worried.”

Therein lies one of the key criticisms of Police Scotland; the perception that since its inception, policing priorities are less local and officers are less visible.

Police Scotland have had a challenging couple of years. Not only have they been tasked with making savings of £1.1 billion by 2026, but there have also been a number of high-profile controversies.

From the recent criticism of the Scottish Police Authority to the disproportionate use of stop and search, Police Scotland have faced increased scrutiny by the public, press and those of us who research with the police. Furthermore, centralising policing services under a single force has undoubtedly led to the perception that local rural policing has been neglected.

One of the key challenges for Police Scotland has been balancing the national and the local in terms of police priorities. There is a real tension between the national standardisation of police protocol, including the development of national directorates such as police custody, and the maintenance of local policing with local priorities.

Police Scotland has been beneficial in supporting intelligence, in rolling out good practice and in ensuring communities have, at least on paper, an equal access to specialist policing services. Nevertheless, a national force has inevitably led to the perception that there has been a reduction of local, neighbourhood police officers dealing with local policing priorities.

Acutely aware of these perceptions, Police Scotland has recently consulted on its new strategy 2026, which focuses on inclusion, prevention, response, collaborative work- ing, accountability, adaptability and, importantly, localism. My research suggests that there is a lot of existing good police practice in rural communities which could be adopted at a national level and which could contribute towards these strategic aims.

To put it another way, rural police officers tend to be experts at working in an adaptable, inclusive and collaborative way, focusing on the local needs of a geographically dispersed community, because this is their only option.

This is for several reasons. Firstly, the large geographic area involved in rural policing means that officers often have little choice other than to be adaptable. Back-up is a long-distance away and transporting detainees to the nearest cells can take hours.

Secondly, many rural police officers live and work in the community, which means they often have a rooted knowledge and understanding of the pertinent issues. This has associated challenges, but it can facilitate collaborative and inclusive policing more readily than in larger urban environments.

Thirdly, this knowledge can enable different policing methods to be used, whereby community solutions are sought to deal with low-key crime and disorder in a more inclusive manner. This can help the police develop trust and accountability more readily with community members and allow officers to be more visible.

These deep police-community connections are increasingly important for our violent and disturbing world. With strategy 2026, there is a unique opportunity to recognise excellence in rural policing and for rural officers to set the national community policing agenda.

Not only will this begin to (re)connect some of those communities, it should also allow greater links to develop between local and national policing agendas. Despite perceptions that rural communities are safer, global security – both online and physical – are as applicable in rural Scotland as they are in Glasgow. The London bombers of 2005, for example, had earlier gone on a team-building exercise in rural Cumbria.

By using existing good rural community practice to support national policing priorities, the local and the national are less likely to be considered discrete policing entities. This in turn will help facilitate inclusion, collaborative working, accountability, adaptability and localism and help shape the national police force towards local priorities. Dr Andrew Wooff, lecturer in criminology at Edinburgh Napier