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‘We were the Guinea pigs’: Police uncertainty enforcing coronavirus regulations in the UK

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‘We were the Guinea pigs’: Police uncertainty enforcing coronavirus regulations in the UK. / De Camargo, Camilla.
In: International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, Vol. 72, 100566, 31.03.2023.

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De Camargo C. ‘We were the Guinea pigs’: Police uncertainty enforcing coronavirus regulations in the UK. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. 2023 Mar 31;72:100566. Epub 2022 Nov 30. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlcj.2022.100566

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Bibtex

@article{409701fd95834f029b6afed04021eae5,
title = "{\textquoteleft}We were the Guinea pigs{\textquoteright}: Police uncertainty enforcing coronavirus regulations in the UK",
abstract = "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 {\textquoteleft}guidance{\textquoteright} and what was {\textquoteleft}law{\textquoteright}. The fast-paced nature of the pandemic meant that restrictions on public liberty and increased police powers to enforce the new {\textquoteleft}rules{\textquoteright} 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.",
keywords = "Coronavirus, COVID-19, Public trust, Policing, Police legitimacy, Fixed penalty notices (FPNs)",
author = "{De Camargo}, Camilla",
year = "2023",
month = mar,
day = "31",
doi = "10.1016/j.ijlcj.2022.100566",
language = "English",
volume = "72",
journal = "International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice",
issn = "1756-0616",
publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",

}

RIS

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 -