Policing a Pandemic: Exploring the impacts of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic of the police, the public, and their relationship

The pandemic has challenged the nature and direction of both policing and police research in Scotland. New government guidelines and rules constraining social contact raise fundamental questions about how the ‘craft of policing’ persists or is renegotiated in the context of a public health crisis (Reiner et al., 2019; Reiner, 2010). It remains unclear how a procedurally just police might be pursued where contact with the public is distant, decreased, and more technologically mediated (See Wells et al., 2020). We cannot yet know how the expressive dimensions of pre-pandemic feelings about police and policing will evolve in this changing environment to produce new local sensibilities towards policing organisations (see Jackson and Bradford, 2009), and what this means for police legitimacy. Equally, we have little understanding of the impact of these changes on police officers themselves. Overall, it has become increasingly clear that in this dynamic context of a public health crisis, the core concepts, and theoretical foundations of police-community relationships are strained in their analytic utility.

This project’s central aim is to shed light on the impacts of the 2020 pandemic on the police, the public and their relationship in several contrasting places in Scotland. It will do so by examining the perspectives and experiences of two groups; the police officers tasked with developing and implementing the national response and emergency powers on the one hand, and the communities being policed on the other. The project will be divided into two workstreams. The first focuses on generating officer accounts of the pandemic to examine the internal organisational and practical elements of the police response (e.g. practical challenges, ethical issues, and officer well-being) in one suburban, one rural and one affluent area in Scotland. The second workstream will take the same communities and, building on the findings of the first section of fieldwork, explore how these policing strategies and challenges were experienced by those being policed. The successful candidate will develop and carry out an empirical qualitative study addressing the following research objectives.

1. Develop an account of the lived experience of a range of police officers in responding to and policing the pandemic, across a range of roles and ranks in the organisation

2. Examine the community impacts of policing decisions across three diverse communities

3. Map out how these experiences and impacts can inform police preparations and the development of police and community resilience in the event of future crises

Three contrasting sites in Scotland will be selected to capture both urban and rural experiences, whilst simultaneously examining a range of socio-demographics. This will allow the research to explore the extent to which pandemic policing reconfigured police-public encounters and relationships with groups that routinely experience more and less policing, and policing activities of different kinds. The student will be expected to engage and work collaboratively with Police Scotland who will support the PhD student and the projects development.

The student will be a member of strong institutional PhD community and encouraged to engage with the multi-disciplinary research and practitioner collaborations currently housed at Edinburgh Napier University. These include but are not limited to the Scottish Institute for Policing Research and the Scottish Collaboration for Law Enforcement and Public Health. As a member of the Postgraduate Community of SIPR, the successful student will also be a member of a vibrant PhD community across Scotland and internationally.

Academic qualifications
A first degree (at least a 2.1) ideally in criminology, sociology, human geography, or allied subject with a good fundamental knowledge of policing and qualitative research.

English language requirement
IELTS score must be at least 6.5 (with not less than 6.0 in each of the four components). Other, equivalent qualifications will be accepted. Full details of the University’s policy are available online.

Essential attributes:
• Experience of fundamental research skills, with experience of qualitative research
• Competent in independent research, project management, and critical analysis skills
• Knowledge of core policing and criminology related literature
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Strong motivation, with evidence of independent research skills relevant to the project
• Good time management
• An ability to work independently and as part of a team

Desirable attributes:
• A completed (or nearing completion) MSc in a relevant subject area, with an empirical research component
• Experience of communicating academic research evidence to non-academic and practitioner audiences