Rural policing in China: Criminal investigation and policing resources for police officers

The Spatial Dimension of Police Legitimacy: An Exploration of Two Pacific Island States

“…In Australia, Canada, and New Zealand accounts commonly discuss the difficulty of responding across long distances to dispersed populations and policing distant or isolated communities as challenges faced by officers who are members of bureaucratically centralised policing organisations. Similar themes are discussed with the context of rural policing in China as police units struggle to operate cross-regionally because of the costs of travel associated with pursuing offenders across different regions (Keke, et al, 2023). In the Australian rural context, the police and health services are the most geographically widespread government agencies (Putt, 2010, p. 36).…”

“…Centralising communications through distant urban call centres that carry out tasking and coordination poses risks when disruptions occur because of internet, network outages, or lack of sufficient coverage. It should not be assumed that technology is necessarily equally distributed across rural and urban areas or that all officers have the requisite skills to utilise available tools (Keke, et al, 2023). Balanced against problems such as accountability or responsiveness that arise because of physical distance to centralised command is the high visibility of individual officers who are well known in rural communities.…”

“…Ricciardelli (2018, p. 433) asserts that adopting strategies that are "culturally and contextually informed" and involve "increased reliance on civilian community members" can benefit rural officers by reducing their exposure to operational risk. Similarly, Keke et al (2023) asserts that police officers can both, reduce manpower costs and extend their effective reach through working with local leaders and community members. This localised approach may benefit even specialist police personnel, such as investigators, as they can better grapple with "local criminogenic conditions" when undertaking their work (Rantatalo et al, 2021(Rantatalo et al, , p. 1364.…”