It is widely accepted that the policing needs of rural areas can be very different from those of urban areas. Because of the concentration of population and (generally) higher crime rates, reforms in policing often appear to be driven by urban priorities, which raises questions about how they operate in the rural context. This article is concerned with one recent development in England and Wales: the introduction of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). Drawing upon interviews with rural PCSOs and the police officers who manage them, this study asks how PCSOs operate in country areas and what difficulties they face. A number of themes emerged: that lack of career development may hinder the formation of long-term ties to a particular community; that the size of beats requires transport; that PCSOs felt unable to respond effectively to minor road traffic offences which were of concern to local residents; that statutory powers to detain could be difficult to enforce; and that PCSOs might be particularly suited to bridge the gap with communities with which the police are having trouble engaging, such as migrant agricultural workers.
AndersonA. (1999). Crime and social change in rural Scotland. In DingwallG.MoodyS. R. (Eds.), Crime and conflict in the countryside (pp. 45–59). Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
2.
Association of Chief Police Officers. (2005). Guidance on Police Community Support Officers. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.acpo.police.uk.
3.
AustR.SimmonsJ. (2002). Rural crime: England and Wales. London: Home Office.
4.
BryettK. (1999). The policing dynamic. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 22(1), 39–45.
CainE. (1973). Society and the policeman's role. London: Routledge.
7.
CaseyL. (2008). Engaging communities in fighting crime. London: Cabinet Office.
8.
Commission for Rural Communities. (2008). State of the countryside 2008. Cheltenham: author.
9.
CookeC. (2005). Issues concerning visibility and reassurance provided by the new 'policing family’. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 15, 229–240.
10.
CrawfordA.ListerS. (2004). The patchwork shape of reassurance policing in England and Wales: Integrated local security quilts or frayed, fragmented and fragile tangled webs?Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 27(3), 413–430.
11.
CrawfordA.ListerS.BlackburnS.BurnettJ. (2005). Plural policing: The mixed economy of visible patrols in England and Wales. Bristol: Policy Press.
12.
CritchleyT. (1978). A history of police in England and Wales. London: Constable.
13.
DenscombeM. (1998). The good research guide. Buckingham: Open University Press.
14.
DingwallG.MoodyS. R. (1999). Mean streets myopia: Challenging criminology's boundaries. In DingwallG.MoodyS. R. (Eds.), Crime and conflict in the countryside (pp. 1–7). Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
15.
EdwardsR. (2009, February 5). Bored police community support officers are committing crimes. Daily Telegraph. Retrieved September 9, 2009, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
16.
EmsleyC. (2005). Crime and society in England (3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson.
17.
GraefR. (1989). Talking blues: The police in their own world. London: Collins Harvill.
18.
HoggartK. (1990). Let's do away with rural. Journal of Rural Studies, 6(3), 245.
IsraelM.HayI. (2006). Research ethics for social scientists. London: Sage.
21.
IvkovicS. (2009). The Croatian police, police integrity, and transition toward democratic policing. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 32(3), 459–488.
Jason-LloydL. (2005). An introduction to policing and police powers (2nd ed). London: Cavendish.
24.
JohnstonL. (2005). From ‘community’ to ‘neighbourhood’ policing: Police Community Support Officers and the ‘police extended family’ in London. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 15(3), 241–254.
25.
JohnstonL. (2006). Diversifying police recruitment? The deployment of Police Community Support Officers in London. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 45(4), 388–402.
26.
JohnstonL. (2007). Keeping the family together: Police Community Support Officers and the ‘police extended family’ in London. Policing & Society, 17(2), 119–140.
27.
JonesT.NewburnT. (2002). The transformation of policing? Understanding current trends in policing systems. British Journal of Criminology, 42(1), 129–146.
28.
JonesT.NewburnT. (2006). Understanding plural policing. In JonesT.NewburnT. (Eds.), Plural policing: A comparative perspective (pp. 1–11). London: Routledge.
29.
KempaM.JohnstonL. (2005). Challenges and prospects for the development of inclusive plural policing in Britain: Overcoming political and conceptual obstacles. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 28(2), 181–191.
30.
LoaderI. (1997), Private security and the demand for protection in contemporary Britain. Policing & Society, 7143–162.
31.
LoaderI. (2000). Plural policing and democratic governance. Social and Legal Studies, 9(3), 323–345.
32.
MerrittJ. (2009). Plural models of policing — Legislating for police powers, a cautionary note from England and Wales. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 32(2), 377–394.
33.
MoodyS. R. (1999). Rural neglect: The case against criminology. In DingwallG.MoodyS. R. (Eds.), Crime and conflict in the countryside (pp. 8–28). Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
34.
MooreM. (2007). Boys drowning sparks demand to scrap PCSOs. Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
35.
MorganR.NewburnT. (1997). The future of policing. Oxford University Press.
36.
MulhollandH. (2009). Transport police will replace conductors on new buses, says Boris. Guardian. Retrieved January 11, 2010, from www.guardian.co.uk.
37.
NewburnT.NeyroudP. (2008). Dictionary of Policing, Collumpton: Willan Publishing.
38.
NewbyH. (1980). Trend report: Rural sociology. Current Sociology, 28(1), 1.
O'ConnorM.GrayD. (1989). Crime in a rural community. Annandale NSW: Federation Press.
43.
O'NeillS. (2009). Radical change needed to beat terrorism and organised crime, says Sir Hugh Orde. The Times. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from www.timesonline.co.uk.
44.
PaskellC. (2007). Plastic police or community support? The role of police community support officers within low-income neighbourhoods. European Urban and Regional Studies, 14(4), 349–361.
45.
ReinerR. (2000). The politics of the police (2nd ed.). Hemel Hempstead: Harvester.
46.
SandyJ. P.DevineD. A. (1978). Four stress factors unique to rural patrol. Police Chief, 45(9), 42–44.
47.
ScottJ.JobesP. C. (2007). Policing in rural Australia: The country cop as law enforcer and local resident. In BarclayE.DonnermeyerJ. F.ScottJ.HoggR. (Eds.), Crime in rural Australia (pp. 127–137). Annandale NS: Federation Press.
48.
SomervilleP. (2009). Understanding community policing. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 32(2), 261–277.
49.
Van StedenR.HubertsL. (2006). The Netherlands. In JonesT.NewburnT. (Eds.), Plural policing: A comparative perspective (pp. 12–33). London: Routledge.
50.
WeisheitR. A.WellsL. E. (1996). Rural crime and justice: Implications for theory and research. Crime & Delinquency, 42(3), 379–397.
51.
WeisheitR. A.FalconeD. N.WellsL. E. (1994). Rural crime and rural policing. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.
52.
YarwoodR. (2008). Crime and policing in the British countryside: Some agendas for contemporary geographical research. Sociologia Ruralis, 41(2), 201–219.
53.
YoungM. (1993). In the sticks: Cultural identity in a rural police force. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
54.
YoungR. (2008). Street policing after PACE: The drift to summary justice. In CapeE.YoungR. (Eds.), Regulating the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984: Past, present and future (pp. 149–189). Oxford: Hart Publishing.
