Final published version
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘We were the Guinea pigs’
T2 - Police uncertainty enforcing coronavirus regulations in the UK
AU - De Camargo, Camilla
PY - 2023/3/31
Y1 - 2023/3/31
N2 - The regulations introduced under the UK's Coronavirus Act 2020 to help curb the spread of COVID-19 caused considerable confusion due to conflation between what was regarded as ‘guidance’ and what was ‘law’. The fast-paced nature of the pandemic meant that restrictions on public liberty and increased police powers to enforce the new ‘rules’ led to accusations of over-zealous enforcement behaviour of some officers, including a record number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued. This paper explores the experiences of police officers in a range of English police forces, using 28 h of qualitative interview data at two research points in time (2020 and 2022). The extracts presented here illustrate some of the challenges that officers faced enforcing the frequently changing rules and regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.
AB - The regulations introduced under the UK's Coronavirus Act 2020 to help curb the spread of COVID-19 caused considerable confusion due to conflation between what was regarded as ‘guidance’ and what was ‘law’. The fast-paced nature of the pandemic meant that restrictions on public liberty and increased police powers to enforce the new ‘rules’ led to accusations of over-zealous enforcement behaviour of some officers, including a record number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued. This paper explores the experiences of police officers in a range of English police forces, using 28 h of qualitative interview data at two research points in time (2020 and 2022). The extracts presented here illustrate some of the challenges that officers faced enforcing the frequently changing rules and regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.
KW - Coronavirus
KW - COVID-19
KW - Public trust
KW - Policing
KW - Police legitimacy
KW - Fixed penalty notices (FPNs)
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijlcj.2022.100566
DO - 10.1016/j.ijlcj.2022.100566
M3 - Journal article
VL - 72
JO - International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice
JF - International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice
SN - 1756-0616
M1 - 100566
ER -