Assholes in the News: Policing in the Age of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This exploratory study examines some of the situational outcomes as presented in news coverage of police encounters with citizens in which the police definition of the situation was not followed. According to organizational studies scholar John Van Maanen, people labelled and treated as “assholes” by officers can be subject to arrests that rely principally on post facto accounts including “disorderly conduct,” “assaulting a police officer,” “disturbing the peace,” and “resisting arrest.” This paper investigates coverage of “assholes” with an eye upon reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing us to ask the question: What can we learn about pandemic policing from examining news coverage of “assholes” during COVID-19? The novel coronavirus was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) China office on December 31, 2019. On March 11, 2020, the WHO officially declared the global COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. An examination of news reports from December 31, 2019, until mid-May 2020 (before and after COVID-19 was named a pandemic) using qualitative media analysis reveals that the pandemic has seemingly augmented the ability of police to act as front-line moral entrepreneurs with an unparalleled position as rule enforcers authorized with the state-sanctioned authority to use violence. A consequence of this pandemic shift is the expansion of police powers where routine activities become situational determinants that might influence police arrests. The findings herein provide a pandemic-era window into police behaviour that occurs beyond the scope of procedural justice. Suggestions for future research are noted.