One of the biggest challenges in rural policing is the lack of support available to the individual officer. A high level of cooperation among township police, county sheriffs and county police departments is vital, because they are backups for each other. Rural jurisdictions face many of the same crimes associated with urban areas -- drug dealing, money laundering, tax evasion, crimes of passion -- and the violent crime rate has increased. Police officers in a rural area are part of the life of the community and must have a good relationship with the community. They can gain willing compliance if they have a reputation for being fair and honest. If they live in the small town where they patrol, officers' private lives are, for better or worse, part of that reputation. The future of rural policing lies in technology. Better communication and information management can go a long way toward making up for the lack of manpower in rural departments.