Policing

Our policing research covers a broad range of topics and audiences. We work with Central Government agencies such as Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, the Association of Police Authorities, and the National Police Improvement Agency to understand what the public want from their police force, how this can best be delivered, and how their police force is performing.

For the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, we have conducted depth interviews with senior police staff to assess the implementation of the ‘Beacon Approach’ performance management toolset, and have carried out group discussions with anti-social behaviour coordinators and practitioners to understand regional variations in the use of tools and powers to tackle anti-social behaviour.

We also have extensive experience of working for police forces directly. For instance, in 2009 we carried out an innovative piece of research for the Metropolitan Police Service comprising of a filmed ethnographic study about anti-social behaviour in four London locations. Also in 2009, we combined qualitative and quantitative research for Greater Manchester Police to explore what information that the public want from the police, and how this impacts on their perception of the police services.