How rurality conceals

I've written about this topic before, including in academic publications, but also on the blog here.  The basic idea is that rural spatiality conceals stuff--including crime--and sometimes people engaged in criminal activity take cover in rural places for that reason.  The bottom line is that it's harder to effectively police people who are sparsely populated across the country side--it takes more money and personnel, as well as better technology--in order to do so.  

Two recent stories, one from the Los Angeles Times and one from Politico--both about illegal pot cultivation--support my thesis.  They are also consistent with this story from several years ago out of Humboldt County, California, also about exploitation of women in the pot industry.  I wrote about it and several related stories on Legal Ruralism here.