Enforcing the unenforceable: exploring police officer use of discretion in the enforcement of COVID-19 rules and regulations
During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments relied on the police to enforce COVID-19 rules. However, little is known about police enforcement of these norms and use of discretion in this process. The current study draws on a sample of 3,866 police officers from 10 countries across the globe and examines officers’ use of discretion when encountering violations of COVID-19 rules. We assess the relative significance of factors such as the perceptions of community adherence to COVID-19 rules, assessments of the police agency’s support to deal with the pandemic, evaluations of COVID-19 seriousness, and psychological adjustments to the pandemic on police officers’ willingness to react when observing a COVID-19 violation. Our findings highlight the complexity of officer responses to violations of rules, which include not only enforcement actions such as giving advice and warning, issuing tickets, and making arrests, but also non-actions.
Authors
- Kaja Prislan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8474-7122)
- Leandro Ayres França (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7826-4079)
- Sanja Kutnjak Ivković (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0709-5404)
- Ivan Y. Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5679-196X)
- Alrien Dausan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6879-7229)
- Yuning Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2699-4790)
- Yang Vincent Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7063-8737)
- Kuang-Ming Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4071-8530)
- Marijana Kotlaja (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7869-2076)
- Adri Sauerman
- Peter Neyroud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3628-4899)
- Krunoslav Borovec (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1236-9182)
- Branko Lobnikar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6121-0907)
- Irena Cajner Mraović (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1811-3452)
- Sandra Kobajica (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7373-3200)
- John Roch
- Jon Maskály (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7686-783X)
Institutions
- University of Sarajevo (BA)
- Metropolitan Police Service (GB)
- University of Zagreb (HR)
- Wayne State University (US)
- Ming Chuan University (TW)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- University of North Dakota (US)
- University of Maribor (SI)
- Research ICT Africa (ZA)
- Film Independent (US)
- Ministry of the Interior (HR)
- University of Reading (GB)
- University of Missouri–Kansas City (US)
- De La Salle University – Dasmariñas (PH)
- University of Delaware (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Police Practice and Research
- Published
- 2024-12-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2024.2435050
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.46