Rural Policing: Change and Continuity

European Journal of Policing Studies, vol. 6, pp. 50–71

Abstract

Rural Policing: Change and Continuity In this paper changes in rural policing in the Netherlands over the past few decades are investigated. This study is an example of oral history, using interviews with rural police officers. The main changes in rural policing are related to different issues: organization of rural policing, views about police work, local knowledge and commitment, relations with local communities, and style of policing. This study shows that since the 1980s the Dutch police have gradually withdrawn from the countryside. Not much is left of the strong traditional position of the police in rural communities. Notwithstanding these developments, the rural police has partially kept is distinctive characteristic in policing style, which makes it different from the police that is often found in urban areas. Larger social density, less anonymity, stronger sense of community, and more social control are among the factors that have contributed to the continuity in the styles of rural policing. Still it looks as if a shift is being made to a different kind of policing in rural regions: less socially embedded, mainly operating from the outside, not as an integral elements of the local community, and generally operating reactively, only after an incident happened.

Authors 3

1. Jan Terpstra Aachen

   Leiden University · Radboud University Nijmegen · Université Libre de Bruxelles

   Affiliation as printed

   Free University of Brussels and the

   Radboud University Nijmegen

   University of Brussels and the University of Leiden (the Hague)

   professor sociology of law, Faculty of Law, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

   the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands

   the Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

2. Tetty Havinga Aachen

   Leiden University · Radboud University Nijmegen · Université Libre de Bruxelles

   Affiliation as printed

   Free University of Brussels and the

   Radboud University Nijmegen

   University of Brussels and the University of Leiden (the Hague)

   professor sociology of law, Faculty of Law, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

   the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands

   the Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

3. Renze Salet Aachen

   Leiden University · Radboud University Nijmegen

   Affiliation as printed

   Radboud University Nijmegen

   University of Brussels and the University of Leiden (the Hague)

   professor sociology of law, Faculty of Law, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

   the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands

   the Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands