‘Alright in their own place’: Policing and the spatial regulation of Irish Travellers

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.