Northern Police Research Webinar – Scotland: The impact of COVID-19 on partnerships between police and gender-based violence service providers in rural Scotland

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Fri 27 Sep 2024 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM BST Online, Microsoft Teams

Presenter: Professor Sarah Pedersen

COVID-19 exacerbated challenges that already existed in the policing of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in remote and rural northern Scotland. Victims’ direct access to the police and third-sector organisations was impeded by social distancing while the pandemic exacerbated extant issues relating to staffing, particularly in relation to female police officers. On the positive side, the flexibility that already characterised rural and remote policing continued, and police officers and third-sector organisations worked together to support victims. The move to videoconferencing was hailed as a positive move in an area where travel to meetings or court can be difficult and expensive. A lack of training for officers with no specific GBV role was identified as particularly problematic during the pandemic when officers on the ground in rural and remote Scotland had to take over work usually undertaken by specialist task forces.

Sarah Pedersen’s research focuses on women’s engagement with the media for political purposes, using both historical and contemporary source material. She is Dean of the Graduate School at RGU. In recent years she has been Visiting Professor at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University, London, and the News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra, Australia. She is a member of the Executive Committee of MeCCSA and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

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