Health harms, climate harms and the regenerative potential of policing

Abstract

Policing, public health, and climate change are interconnected. Police respond to health harms, from pandemics to mental distress. They also respond to climate harms, such as floods and fires. In combination, changing ‘harmscapes’–or landscapes of harm–place new demands and strains on policing, but they can also serve as ‘portals’ to new imaginings of policing functions. In this essay, we examine the potential for policing to serve a regenerative function, working not only to protect life, but to act as a glue that binds local harm reduction efforts together and stimulate their growth. We offer examples of two developments aimed at improving the policing of health harms (COVID-19 and mental distress respectively) to illustrate the potential of regenerative policing and distil its nascent features. This essay concludes that intentional efforts to advance regenerative policing should be considered in view of new and compounding harms to planetary and human health. Show more