The Police Research Unit (PRU) is a centre for research excellence in policing. Members of the PRU provide cutting edge independent research which aims to make evidence-based impacts on policy and practice at local, national and international levels. The PRU also provides opportunities for policing students to engage in cutting edge research.
Exploring International Law Enforcement Information Exchange
Project funder: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship, 2021-2025, £959,000
Dr Rebecca Phythian
This research programme explores information sharing between international law enforcement agencies to tackle serious organised crime and human trafficking. Principal investigator, Dr Phythian, is working with a team of policing experts in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA to inform the delivery of a new global information system to be used by law enforcement agencies around the world.
Visible Policing: The affective properties of police buildings, images and material culture
Project funder: ESRC, 2016 – 2022, £406,775
Professor Andrew Millie, Professor Michael Rowe (Northumbria University) and Dr Matthew Jones (The Open University)
This research programme is the first to explore the visual culture of contemporary policing. It develops understanding of the importance of visible policing in ways that move beyond established interest in patrol work by conceptualising visibility in much broader terms.
The Attitudes, Values and Beliefs of Police Recruits
This project examines the attitudes, values and beliefs of new recruits as they join Lancashire Constabulary. The study focuses on whether the attitudes, values and beliefs of new recruits challenge police cultures, and the extent to which they become aligned to dominant norms and practices.
Volunteering has long been a feature of the police and opportunities for volunteers are throughout the police service – including joining the ranks of the Special Constabulary or becoming a Police Support Volunteer (PSV). This research explores why some people volunteer for the police, issues regarding their recruitment, management and supervision and factors that might inhibit or reinforce successful outcomes.
Policing in a Time of Contraction and Constraint: Re-imagining the Role and Function of Contemporary Policing
Project funder: British Academy, 2011, £1,280
Professor Andrew Millie and Professor Karen Bullock (University of Surrey)
The starting point for this project was the nature and scale of the fiscal challenge facing state-funded police forces in Britain following the financial crisis. Public sector cuts had immediate implications for the police service with a 20 per cent reduction in funding by 2014/2015 (HM Treasury, 2010). The project received funding for a day conference held at the British Academy in London and led to the publication of a special issue of the journal Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Research in action
Members of the Police Research Unit are involved in important and innovative research on a range of topics.
