The project aims to strengthen the evidence base upon which policing policy is developed
A new research programme will play a key role in informing future policing policy, following £3 million funding for a collaborative project across the north of England.
The project, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), will enable academics and the police, working as N8 Policing Research Partnership (N8 PRP), to take a major step forward in developing and testing innovative approaches to policing and crime reduction.
It will bring together researchers from the Universities of Liverpool, Leeds, Durham, Lancaster, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield, with Police and Crime Commissioners and police and partner organisations, to generate new insights with practical relevance.
Key priorities of the initiative are research co-production, innovation in policing strategies, mobilising human and data resources to understand crime patterns, and citizen engagement to assess the public reception of new technologies, policing practices and change.
The five-year project aims to strengthen the evidence base upon which policing policy, practice and learning are developed. It is anticipated that this initiative will make an important contribution to innovation and the utilisation of research in advancing the professionalisation of policing.
Opportunity
Professor Sandra Walklate, from the University’s School of Law and Social Justice, said: “The project provides a platform ready to be filled by activities involving policing and police commissioner partners and universities across the north.
“It is a real opportunity for all policing researchers to make connections and engage in work with impact through cross institutional and policing collaborations.”
Sir Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, one of the forces involved in the project, added: “We are excited to be part of this pioneering collaboration. We look forward to working with the N8 Research Partnership to shape and deliver a wide-ranging programme of activities that will enable us to become more efficient and effective in our frontline activities, to cut crime and keep people safe.
“It is essential that we develop new ways of dealing with the complexities of policing, protecting vulnerable people and every variety of threat, such as terrorism, cyber-crime and sex offenders. In order to do this it is right that we make full and appropriate use of the expertise that lies in our universities so as to develop the evidence needed to tackle these and any emerging challenges.”
Imform and improve
Professor Adam Crawford, of the School of Law at the University of Leeds and the Director of the N8 PRP, explained: “We want to transform the relationship between police users and academic researchers so that we co-produce the knowledge that will inform and improve the policing strategies of the future.”
The ‘Innovation and the Application of Knowledge for More Effective Policing’ programme will provide mechanisms to bring researchers and practitioners together to design and undertake research that focuses specifically on new and emerging challenges for policing.
