Dr Laura Hammond1, Jenny Richards2
1Birmingham City University, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 2University of Derby, Derby, United Kingdom
Jenny is a lecturer in policing at the University of Derby after a successful and varied career in policing. She has a particular interest in Evidence Based Policing, after managing a large research portfolio and working extensively with universities in her previous role, promoting an evidence-based approach and translating evidence into policing practice.
Empirical evidence suggests that police receptivity to research remains low, with notable knowledge gaps being consistently observed in a number of core policing areas. One of the main reasons for this is that police officers often find academic research hard to engage with and difficult to make sense of.
With increased impetus being placed on the need for, and value of, evidence-based practice in policing, it’s worth considering alternative ways of enabling police officers to access, engage with and utilize academic research. This presentation outlines our experiences of using a novel method to communicate findings from academic research to police audiences – namely; EBP (Evidence-Based Policing) pub quizzes.
We have been running these quizzes with UK police forces for a number of years now, and in the presentation we will summarise how the quizzes were developed, how they are run, and the feedback we have received from police officers and staff regarding how the quizzes are helping them keep abreast of research developments of relevance to their practice.
Best practice in the use of such methods is considered, alongside potential opportunities for the development of further engagement activities, with a focus on considering ways of ensuring effective co-operation between practitioners and academics in order to maximize uptake and use of academic research within policing contexts.
Biography:
Laura’s research has focused on a wide range of topics and areas, including investigative processes and decision-making. She has worked with police and law enforcement agencies around the world on a range of research and consultancy projects.