Pandemic policing and the preventive state

We analyse the ‘law and order’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales and suggest that pandemic policing was just one example of the reflexive reach by governments for a punitive response to a social challenge. The pandemic response followed a trend toward securitisation, criminalisation and pre-emption of risk. This trend is also evident in a range of other laws and policing practices – the STMP, bail compliance checks, consorting laws and protest policing. We argue these are policy choices that are increasingly common in what has been described as the ‘preventive state’, where pre-emption of risk has become central. We suggest that, instead, the pandemic response should have focused on the needs of community and capacity building. This lesson must be applied to address the cascading physical and economic impacts of climate change.