Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many challenges to governments in general and to police in particular. Police have a significant role in a nation's response to a pandemic carrying out a range of important functions. These might include enforcing quarantine, isolation, and travel bans, providing security to medical personnel, protecting and transporting medical equipment, vaccines, and medical samples, providing advice and reassurance to the public, supporting investigations into the source of an outbreak, identifying new cases of disease or who is at risk from it. All these roles will be added to many of the usual policing duties required during a pandemic. There are however many challenges for police in responding to pandemics. They may be required to engage with agencies such as Public Health that they do not normally work with. This can cause difficulties with lack of mutual understanding of processes, policies, and practices and lack of trust between agencies. This chapter explores policing during pandemics, the challenges faced by police and potential solutions.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Law Enforcement and Public Health: Partners for Community Safety and Wellbeing |
Editors | Isabelle Bartkowiak-Theron, James Clover, Denise Martin, Richard F. Southby, Nick Crofts |
Place of Publication | Switzerland |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 243-263 |
Number of pages | 21 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9783030839130 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783030839123 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |