‘Alright in their own place’: Policing and the spatial regulation of Irish Travellers
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895811431849 |
| Published date | 01 July 2012 |
| Date | 01 July 2012 |
| Author | Aogán Mulcahy |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Criminology & Criminal Justice
12(3) 307 –327
© The Author(s) 2011
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895811431849
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‘Alright in their own place’:
Policing and the spatial
regulation of Irish Travellers
Aogán Mulcahy
University College Dublin, Ireland
Abstract
Recent efforts to improve relations between ethnic minority communities and the police have
generally revolved around a ‘diversity’ agenda, through strategies to enhance consultation,
increase recruitment levels and so on. However, for communities characterized by nomadism,
a different set of issues arises. For the police, nomadism undermines the information work
which is at the heart of their governance mandate. This article considers relations between
Irish Travellers and the police, and highlights police recourse to strategies of spatial regulation
in dealing with Travellers. The scale of the evident mistrust and hostility is such that efforts to
improve this relationship through the policing diversity agenda alone are likely to have little
success unless they also address the acute marginalization of Travellers, and the provision of
adequate accommodation in particular.
Keywords
diversity, ethnic minority communities, Irish Travellers, policing, spatial regulation
Introduction
Despite the common characterization of late-modern society in terms of mobility, fluid-
ity and ‘liquidity’ (Bauman, 2000), this is applied in highly contrasting ways. On the one
hand, it involves an appreciation and facilitation of the globalized economy and the
mobility of capital and corporate executives, and the vast tourism industry. On the other,
it involves deep concern over the ‘problem’ of mobility as represented and practised by
illegal immigrants, global criminal networks and other ‘disreputable’ individuals and
groups (Weber and Bowling, 2008).
Corresponding author:
Aogán Mulcahy, School of Sociology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Email: aogan.mulcahy@ucd.ie
431849CRJ12310.1177/1748895811431849MulcahyCriminology & Criminal Justice
2011
Article
308 Criminology & Criminal Justice 12(3)
Irish Travellers are in many ways held to epitomize the ‘problem’ of mobility, such is
the affront they give to the territorial governance requirements of the police and other
regulatory agencies. Yet despite their characterization as innately disreputable and crimi-
nogenic (Drummond, 2006), their experiences within the Irish criminal justice system
have received relatively little attention. The available research highlights the negative
and oppressive quality of most Travellers’ involvement with the criminal justice system
(Bhreatnach, 2007; Fanning, 2009; Hourigan, 2011; Walsh, 2000). It is largely based,
though, on charting cultural representations of Travellers, or focusing on high-profile or
historical events. Detailed empirical accounts of the relationship between Travellers and
the police and other criminal justice agencies are available, but – ironically – these
relate to the experiences of Travellers in Britain rather than in Ireland (Coxhead, 2007;
Pizani-Williams, 1998; Power, 2004, 2007; Richardson, 2007). Given the scale of the
difficulties cumulatively highlighted in this research, it is clear that further sustained
analysis of these issues is required.
Drawing on interviews with Travellers and members of An Garda Síochána (Ireland’s
national police force),1 this article examines the relationship between Travellers and the
police in Ireland. First, I discuss the broad significance of spatial regulation within
policing, particularly in terms of the emergence of the ‘policing diversity agenda’. I then
consider the spatial exclusion of Travellers within Irish society, and their involvement
with the criminal justice system historically. In the main body of the article I argue that
a logic of spatial regulation has shaped – in negative and far-reaching ways – the police
response to Travellers.
Policing, Diversity and Space
The weight of criminological research consistently demonstrates that ethnicity is an
important factor in shaping people’s views on and experiences of the criminal justice
system, and policing in particular (Bowling and Phillips, 2008; Rowe, 2004). Ethnic
minority communities tend to be ‘over-policed’, through high levels of harassment, con-
frontational policing styles and overt misconduct of various forms (Chan, 1997; Keith,
1993). They also tend to be ‘under-protected’ insofar as their victimization is accorded
a lesser significance by the police and other agencies (Bowling, 1999). The predictable
outcome is that relations between the police and ethnic minority communities are often
characterized by lack of confidence, suspicion and hostility.
Policy responses to address this situation – the specific contours of which, admit-
tedly, vary greatly from society to society – have generally taken the form of what
may be termed the ‘policing diversity agenda’ (An Garda Síochána, 2001, 2009; Her
Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2001). The measures that comprise this policy
platform share a common focus on improving relations between the police and ethnic
minority communities, and include efforts to increase recruitment, improve consultation
mechanisms, and ensure that the victimization of ethnic minorities elicits an appropri-
ately professional response (Rowe, 2004, 2007). Their focus largely has been on the
culture and/or practice of policing, rather than on the wider social field within which the
police operate (Chan, 1997). However, there is a danger that this agenda assumes a level
of homogeneity that does not exist across ethnic minority communities, still less within
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