Working with the Police on Policing

The vital role of empirical research evidence in informing police training, strategic decision making and operational practice has long been recognised. In the current climate of evidence-based policing, police organisations are increasingly looking for innovative ways to understand what works and why. At the same time, academics working in higher education are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their research is impacting on society. There is a need for effective collaborations and knowledge exchange between the police and police researchers. However, the structures and systems that might facilitate this are underdeveloped and poorly understood. Therefore we invited both academics and police practitioners to an international conference, Working with the Police on Policing.

The conference focussed on the ways academics and the police do and can work together, drawing on real-world collaborations between academics and the police from different countries. In terms of format, each panel session at the conference involved academics talking alongside police practitioners about specific research projects where they have worked closely together. Both reflected on things such as the research process and its challenges, the outputs and outcomes of the research, and models of partnership relations and how well they work, as well as exploring any lessons that can be drawn from these experiences.

Speakers

• Sarah Bennett (University of Queensland) and Inspector Ian Thompson (Queensland Police)
• Ben Bradford (University of Oxford)
• Penny Dick (University of Sheffield)
• Marleen Easton (University of Gent) and Stanny de Vlieger (Judicial Director of the Federal Police in the
• Province of Antwerp)
• Maris Herold (University of Cincinnati) and James Whalen (Director of Public Safety at the University of
• Cincinnati, and formerly Assistant Chief of the Cincinnati Police Department)
• Nick Fyfe (University of Dundee)
• Christian Mouhanna (Director of Cesdip, France)
• James Sheptycki (York University, Canada)
• Layla Skinns (University of Sheffield) and Alan Greene (formerly Superintendent and the Head of Police Custody for Greater Manchester Police)
• Adam White (University of Sheffield) and Imogen Hayat (Security Industry Authority)

Panel members: Matthew Bacon (University of Sheffield), Adam Crawford (University of Leeds), Jenny Fleming (University of Southampton) and Nicky Miller (College of Policing)

The conference was funded by the N8 Policing Research Partnerships as part of their programme of research coproduction and knowledge exchange, and was hosted by the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Sheffield.

For further information, please contact Lisa Burns at criminology@sheffield.ac.uk