Background:

In its Policing Vision 2025, the UK’s National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) states that by 2025, evidence-based practice will be embedded in, and will inform every day policing practice. Establishing a framework which helps practitioners across policing contribute towards building knowledge and standards based on evidence is recognised as vital to achieving this end.

Findings: The College of Policing’s work to understand best practice in policing and develop an evidence base of what works in reducing crime has highlighted the benefits of productive partnerships between forces and academic institutions. This presentation will describe learning from the College of Policing’s Police Knowledge Fund (PKF), a joint £10m initiative with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Home Office that funded 14 collaborations between academia and police forces with the aim of increasing evidence-based practice.

Key findings from the evaluation of the programme will be outlined, describing learning against the PKF’s three main aims, which were to:
• build sustained capability amongst officers and staff to understand, critique and use research, including the potential for officers and staff to carry out research and reviews of the evidence;
• embed or accelerate understanding of crime and policing issues, and evidence-based problem-solving approaches; and,
• demonstrate innovation in building the research evidence base and applying it through knowledge exchange and translation across all levels of policing.

Conclusion:

The presentation will conclude with a series of considerations required to maximise the benefits and sustainability of the current PKF programme, and to increase the success of future police and academic collaborations. With the ultimate pursuit of improved police performance and practice, key learning around the development of evidence-based practice through police/academic collaborations is likely to be of considerable interest across the global policing family.