COVID-19 and Policing: A Qualitative Study of Sheriff Departments in Rural Indiana

• Published date: 01 June 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/07340168231190468
• Author: Christian W. Gallagher,Arif Akgul,Mehmet A. Sozer,Avdi S. Avdija,Samual J. Pickens
• Date: 01 June 2024

COVID-19 and Policing: A

Qualitative Study of Sheriff

Departments in Rural Indiana

Christian W. Gallagher

1

, Arif Akgul

1

,

Mehmet A. Sozer

2

, Avdi S. Avdija

1

,

and Samual J. Pickens

1

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to explore and analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pan-

demic on practices in law enforcement and jails, with a specif‌ic focus on sheriff departments serving

in small, rural counties in the state of Indiana. This study identif‌ied and analyzed various issues and

trends pertaining to COVID-19’s effect upon jail and offender management, patrol and criminal

investigation, personnel and offender safety, public service and expectations, courthouse trial and

case management, and community trust in sheriff departments. Semi-structured interviews were

employed with current sheriffs working in four different counties in Indiana in this qualitative

research. The results showed that COVID-19 has brought to the forefront two major themes:

(a) precautions taken by sheriff departments against COVID-19 and (b) changes in the way the crim-

inal justice system works. Findings were further grouped into three categories according to each

sheriff’s sentiments: negative (e.g., increase in expenses, loss of workforce, and mental health), pos-

itive (e.g., decrease in the workload and decrease in jail population), and mixed (e.g., precautions

against COVID-19, changing crime patterns, and trust). The study concluded that COVID-19 caused

a wave of change that sentripples through these communities,the criminal justice system,and sher-

iff departments in particular.

Keywords

COVID-19, criminal justice, trust, policing, sheriff department, Indiana

Introduction

The emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020 resulted in widespread outbreaks globally, causing pro-

found and lasting changes in people’s everyday activities. This included alterations in work, educa-

tion, socialization, recreation, and even criminal activities. The pandemic created many specif‌ic

1

School of Criminology & Security Studies, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, USA

2

School of Justice Studies, Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Arif Akgul, School of Criminology & Security Studies, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 47809, USA.

Email: Arif.Akgul@indstate.edu

Article

Criminal Justice Review

2024, Vol. 49(2) 222-243

© 2023 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/07340168231190468

journals.sagepub.com/home/cjr

challenges for law enforcement, necessitating changes in both policy and practice relating to the

manner in which off‌icers patrolled, conducted criminal investigations, and attempted to interact as

safely as possible with criminals, members of the public, and each other. Likewise, COVID-19

created many hazards and challenges for those maintaining correctional facilities, as they attempted

to keep staff and offenders in jails and prisons safe and secure. Finally, the pandemic forced signif‌i-

cant changes to the criminal justice system in terms of the manner in which charges were f‌iled, arrests

were made, and courtrooms were run.

As the only elected law enforcement off‌icials in the state of Indiana (which is also the case in most

other states as well), sheriffs were faced with many diff‌icult challenges during this pandemic as they

tried to maintain safe and effective operations within their departments. Additionally, because the

very existence and severity of the virus itself inevitably became politicized, sheriffs were often

forced to justify policy to the very citizens who had voted them into off‌ice. Tasked with staff‌ing,

funding, and running the county jail, maintaining courthouse safety and security, and providing

patrol coverage, civil process service, and criminal investigative coverage for an entire county, sher-

iffs face tremendous challenges under normal circumstances. Those challenges grew exponentially in

the face of this global pandemic. However, even as these new challenges intensif‌ied, straining

budgets, personnel health and employee availability, employee and offender morale, and public per-

ception, a break or discontinuation in basic services was not an option. Sheriffs were forced by neces-

sity to research, improvise, implement, and maintain effective policy throughout the pandemic.

Sometimes they were guided by science, other times by instinct, and on many occasions, they

were able to collaborate with other sheriffs and public off‌icials in order to formulate sensible policies.

Although there was a degree of universality to many of the challenges created by the COVID-19 out-

break, each sheriff also faced some issues that were unique to that sheriff’s personnel, the offender

population, and the citizens in that county. In order to better understand the nature of the challenges

these departments were facing, this study attempts to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

on sheriff departments serving in small and rural counties in the state of Indiana. It identif‌ies as many

challenges as possible in an effort to obtain as much of the overall picture as can be captured. The

present study starts with a literature review and then brief‌ly describes the method utilized to

gather data. Results are presented along with actual quotes derived from semi-structured interviews.

We conclude the paper with the interpretation of results and recommendations for future studies.

Literature Review

Despite the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic began approximately 1.5 years prior to the time of

writing, available academic literature regarding its impact on the criminal justice system in the

United States was very limited. Much of the available research was published in 2020, while the

world was still undergoing a rapid adjustment to the crisis. As such, there is a gap in up-to-date infor-

mation that accurately details the totality of the diff‌iculties faced and adjustments made within the

justice system, as well as the long-term impact of such adjustments. There is literature available

regarding how the U.S. justice system has handled pandemics in the past, such as the 2009 H1N1

pandemic, as well as how the governments of various nations around the world have handled the

COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is worth noting that due to the uniqueness of both the current pan-

demic and the U.S. justice system when compared to prior pandemics and foreign justice systems,

respectively, some of the literature may not be perfectly applicable to present-day circumstances.

Law Enforcement and COVID-19

Law enforcement calls for service in the United States dropped considerably during the 2020 lock-

down period, with similar results occurring in other nations around the world (Balmori de la Miyar

Gallagher et al.223