CCR and BSC Police Misconduct Forum seminar: UNSDG16 Seminar 3: Corruption and powerful perpetrators

Speakers: Dr Natasha Mulvihill (University of Bristol) and Dr Melanie Sofia Hartvigsen (Aalborg University)

Discussants: Marcus Griffiths (College of Policing) and Chief Inspector Gareth Thomas (South Yorkshire Police)

Chairs: Professor Layla Skinns (University of Sheffield) and Dr Sara Grace (University of Salford and Chair of the Police Misconduct Forum)

Throughout semesters 1 and 2 in 2025-26, CCR seminars will explore the UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 of peace, justice and strong institutions. As noted by the UN, this goal “is about promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. People everywhere should be free of fear from all forms of violence and feel safe as they go about their lives, whatever their ethnicity, faith or sexual orientation.” The UN also goes on to note that responses to injustice, conflict and insecurity include strong institutions, such as government, civil society and communities, who need to work together to find the most appropriate solutions, such as through the rule of law including human rights and by combating corruption.

In this third seminar on the theme of UNSDG16, CCR and the newly established British Society of Criminology Police Misconduct Forum (part of the BSC’s Policing Network)  will be jointly hosting Dr Natasha Mulvihill and Dr Melanie Sofia Hartvigsen who will talk about their research on corruption and powerful perpetrators and the challenges of responding to this and holding such perpetrators to account. Their presentations will be responded to by two police stakeholder discussants, Marcus Griffiths and CI Gareth Thomas.

Dr Natasha Mulvihill, University of Bristol

Title: Understanding and responding to police perpetrators (Natasha Mulvihill)

Summary: Natasha will discuss her research on police perpetrators of physical and sexual violence (with Dr Fay Sweeting at Bournemouth) and she will reference her ongoing ERC/UKRI 'Powerful Perpetrators' project, exploring sexual misconduct by 'high status/high public trust' professionals and administrative justice.  Natasha's theoretical framing starts with recognising the coercive potential of professional authority (see Mulvihill, 2022).  The talk concludes with emerging reflections on the barriers to, and opportunities for, building the institutional courage (Freyd, 2014; 2018) to respond effectively.

Bio: Natasha is an Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Bristol, who researches domestic and sexual violence and abuse of power (see: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/natasha-mulvihill/)

Dr Melanie Sofia Hartvigsen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aalborg University, Denmark

Title: Police Accountability as a Site of Democratic Struggle

Police accountability as a safeguard against police corruption is often discussed in terms of both its normative promise and its empirical failure, particularly regarding mechanisms such as civilian oversight boards and body-worn cameras. Despite intentions to address corruption within police institutions in Western democracies, numerous studies demonstrate that reforms and the introduction of new measures have largely failed to address the structural critique that originally motivated them. Existing structures and organisational cultures are frequently cited as barriers to meaningful accountability and change, leaving contestations raised by civil society organisations, citizens, and external experts unresolved – often generating further frustration and systemic disruption. This raises the question: why does the problem of police accountability persistently seek resolution within the very institutional logics that reproduce its limitations? In my presentation, I argue that these failures of accountability mechanisms are not merely technical or functional; they reveal a tendency to prioritise stability and institutional continuity over democratic accountability and democratic renewal by absorbing, sidelining, or deflecting externally initiated contestation into pre-existing accountability frameworks. Using Denmark as a case study, I demonstrate how both the police institution and political decision-makers deploy strategies of absorption, sidelining, and deflection, thereby prioritising stability and institutional survival over democratic accountability and eventually democratic legitimacy. In conclusion, I call for renewed scholarly and political engagement with accountability demands emerging from civil society, and for a critical democratic debate on the fundamental question: who are the police for?

Bio: Melanie Sofia Hartvigsen is a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC-funded VINO project at Aalborg University, Denmark. Her research primarily explores the interplay between security logics and democratic governance, with a particular focus on how processes and interpretations of democratic accountability are enacted within security organisations. She examines how these logics sustain or challenge democratic principles and how they align with broader societal perceptions. She earned her PhD in Intelligence Studies from the University of Southern Denmark in April 2025, where her dissertation investigated the virtues of accountability within the Danish intelligence community. Over the past year, her work has concentrated on police institutions and informal accountability mechanisms. Committed to interdisciplinary research, she seeks to bridge critical scholarship on policing and intelligence with practice and aims to generate insights that inform policy and contribute to democratic resilience.

Discussants:

Marcus Griffiths is the Policing Standards Manager: Ethics, Integrity and Professional Standards for the College of Policing.

Chief Inspector Gareth Thomas is the lead for complaints and investigations in the Professional Standards Department in South Yorkshire Police.