Edinburgh Napier University

  This PhD Studentship will employ narrative inquiry to map the technological opportunities and ethical challenges faced by Police Scotland when responding to the Pandemic. By inviting frontline officers, managers, and police staff to tell their story of policing a pandemic, the project will shed light on how the organisation navigated complex issues of enforcing emergency powers, constraining civil liberties, maintaining public trust and legitimacy all while being a 'socially distanced' service. Through narratives of police experience, the project will map the practical everyday challenges and ethical issues frontline officers faced in responded rapidly, as well as the more strategic and organisational issues faced by managers and police staff. Second, in mapping this institutional experience the project will also seek to understand how information technologies played a role, as well as how the ethical questions raised by their were navigated in a time where opportunity for deliberation and debate is limited.