Plural Policing, Security and the COVID Crisis

Comparative European Perspectives

Monica Den Boer, Eric Bervoets, Linda Hak

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9783031191763
• eBook ISBN:
  9783031191770
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Civil Rights in Law
• Index: Social Sciences

This book critically examines how countries across Europe have dealt with the COVID crisis from a policing and security perspective. Across the chapters, contributors from different countries examine the data, press coverage, and provide professional observations on how policing, law enforcement, police powers and community relations were managed. They focus on how security and governmental actors often failed to align with the formal scripts that were specifically designed for crisis-management, resulting in the wavering application of professional discretion and coercive powers. Their different approaches were evident: in some regions police were less dominantly visible compared to other regions, where the police used a top-down visible and repressive stance vis-à-vis public alignment with COVID rules, including the imposition of lockdown and curfews. Some contributors draw on data from the COROPOL (Corona Policing) Monitor which collated data on crime, plural policing and public order in Europe and around the world during the early phases of the COVID crisis. Overall, this book seeks to provide comparative critical insights and commentary as well as a practical and operational understanding of security governance during the COVID-19 crisis and the lessons learned to improve future preparedness.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Plural Policing, Security and the COVID-19 Crisis: An Introduction to Comparative European Perspectives
• 2. Policing with the Help of Data: The Use of CoroPol in the Pandemic’s Early Stages in The Netherlands
• 3. Policing and Security in Southern Europe: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Reaffirms Pre-existing Patterns
• 4. Police and Other Plural Policing Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe Facing COVID-19 Pandemic
• 5. Policing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: Challenges and Learnings for Future Crises
• 6. Policing by Consent in a Pandemic: Security Governance and Policing of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom