Policing research

The CJP Policing strand aims to:

• Drive a new policing agenda, by pushing forward debates on policing internationally and being a conduit for positive change in policing, police culture, and police practices.
• Respond to the current and future needs of constabularies and policing nationally, focusing on high priority areas (such as vulnerabilities, CSE, cybercrime, Counter Terrorism, racial relations, ACE and trauma).
• Demonstrate the importance of taking an evidenced-based policing approach through our empirical research and secondment contract with Lancashire Constabulary.
• Raise awareness of the importance of lived experience and professional practice.
• Be a sector lead on the curriculum development and training of police officers under the Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF).
• Establish our reputation as a Centre for excellence in research and teaching in policing studies.
• Explore the meaning of policing, evaluating the role of traditional and non-traditional forms of policing and relationships with agencies in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Policing, Hate crime, Cybercrime, Human Trafficking, Serious and Organised Crime, Counter-terrorism, Child Sexual Exploitation, Sex work, Emergency Planning, Sexual offences and offending, Domestic abuse and coercive control.

The CJP Policing strand is led by Professor Sarah Kingston and Deputies Clive Tattum and Dr Emily Cooper

Professor Sarah Kingston, Professor in Criminal Justice and Policing

Sarah Kingston is Professor in Criminal Justice and Policing. Her research focuses on gender, sexuality, sexual health, sex crimes and sex work. Sarah’s research has sought to give a voice to marginalised, hidden or stigmatised populations. Much of her work has focused on the UK sex industry. Her most recent research explored women’s experiences as clients of commercial sex

Sarah has recently had a book published on this topic:

Kingston, S., Hammond, N., & Redman, S. (2020) Women who buy sex: Converging Sexualities? London: Routledge.

Sarah is also a member of the The British Society of Criminology, The European Society of Criminology and the Sex Work Research Hub.

Clive Tattum, Principal Lecturer

Clive retired from the Police Service in 2014 as the Detective Chief Superintendent and Head of Crime for Lancashire Constabulary having held a number of other senior command roles in including the Head of Professional Standards.

He joined the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in August 2014. Currently he is the Principal Lecturer for the Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) and Apprenticeship Lead within the School at the University.

He also co-chairs the National Higher Education (HE) Forum for policing. In that National HE capacity he sits on a number of PEQF Boards with the College of Policing (CoP).

Clive is also heavily involved in several of the work streams of the recent National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) Police Uplift Programme and is a member of the Uplift Stakeholder Group run by the NPCC.

He works with the Home Office as part of the national attraction/ recruitment campaign. He also sits on the National Academic RISC board reporting to both government and academia

Dr. Emily Cooper, Senior Lecturer

Emily's research has largely centred on sex work regulation to date, and in addition to academic publications, she has co-organised and chaired numerous national and international conference sessions building on this work. Her research has featured in national media, and she has appeared on local radio to discuss the regulation of sex work in Lancashire. She has also given a Tedx talk at Lancaster University in 2017 on sex work in the community, and you can view this on YouTube. Emily’s current research projects centre on digital-sexual exploitation (particularly sextortion) and fraud

Emily is a member of the Policing teaching team in the School. Emily's PhD explored the geographies and regulation of sex work. She has led numerous collaborative projects with police forces and partner organisations relating to sex work and sexual exploitation. Emily also supervises postgraduate students at UCLan and she is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Emily is the course lead for the MSc in Criminal Justice and has co-produced numerous evaluations for local police forces and partner agencies in her role as a seconded researcher for the Evidence-Based Policing team at Lancashire Constabulary.

She is very active on social media and particularly enjoys tweeting about research and academic life! You can find her on Twitter @criminographer

Lancashire Constabulary Evidence Based Policing Hub

Policing colleagues, Dr Emily Cooper, Dr Nathan Birdsall and Professor Sarah Kingston are contractually seconded to Lancashire Constabulary to undertake research for the Evidence-Based Policing department. This work is a mix of meeting the Constabulary’s research and development needs, as well as providing them with ongoing research in their individual subject specialisms.

The secondment is an annually renewed contract that means the team are bought out for 3.5 days per week. Over the past few years this work has covered a range of topics, which have formed numerous internal reports, some of which were formed into academic publications. Some of the more substantial projects previously covered by the team includes:

• Creating a framework for evaluating evidence-based research within the force;
• Evaluating the use, storage and application of body-worn video;
• Exploring recording practices and ‘evidential difficulty’ outcomes;
• Understanding and improving victim satisfaction and engagement with the force;
• Uncovering the Constabulary’s mental health demand; and
• Examining police officer and staff wellbeing and engagement.

However, there are also several projects ongoing within the force such as analysis of the rates of domestic abuse incidents and crimes during the Covid-19 lockdown to determine whether there is any difference to previous years.

Emily is in charge of a project which examines how the Constabulary processes cases of ‘Sextortion’, identifying how it differs from romance fraud and revenge porn. Nathan is triangulating metrics relating to public perceptions of Lancashire Constabulary to determine which figures can be used to reliability and validly explain levels of public confidence, satisfaction feelings of safety, and police effectiveness.

Lancashire Violence Reduction Unit and UCLan Policing Volunteer project

Policing students from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) have teamed up with the Lancashire Violence Reduction Network (LVRN) to support a number of projects across the county designed to reduce and prevent violent crime.

Already a group of UCLan students have held a talk with year 1 and 2 pupils at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Langho, Ribble Valley, to help children to think about and develop their resilience and make positive decisions.

They discussed ‘Captain Calm’, a story written by 6-year-old Charlie Mooney to appeal to children of a similar age, which tells of how a young boy donned a badge that gave him superhero powers to recognise feelings such as anger or sadness and think before acting to help him to make positive decisions. Captain Calm uses these superpowers to help other children to make positive decisions that make them feel happy too.

This is the first activity taken by UCLan policing students as part of the joint initiative with Lancashire Violence Reduction Network (LVRN), a multi-agency team working to reduce and prevent violent crime. The partnership will offer students on UCLan’s BSc Professional Policing degree programme the opportunity to volunteer to support projects in communities across Lancashire.

"The people we meet in life can have a huge influence on the choices we make and ultimately where we end up. The UCLan LVRN volunteers will become positive role models for the young people they meet and inspire them to make considered choices that keep them safe from violence and crime." Chief Inspector Steve Anderton LVRN

UCLan volunteers will build on their understanding of the root causes of violence and become role models to those they meet while supporting Lancashire Violence Reduction Network funded projects. Projects are expected to include delivering violence prevention messages to young people within colleges and schools and supporting community outreach work.

Chief Inspector Steve Anderton of Lancashire Violence Reduction Network said: “The people we meet in life can have a huge influence on the choices we make and ultimately where we end up. The UCLan LVRN volunteers will become positive role models for the young people they meet and inspire them to make considered choices that keep them safe from violence and crime…As the police officers of the future, this partnership will help students to gain vital experience in building relationships with individuals from different backgrounds and understanding the root causes of violence. We are delighted to be working together with UCLan to support Lancashire communities."

Course Leader on the UCLan professional policing degree Vicky Mooney said: “This unique partnership offers the professional policing students an opportunity to enhance employability skills, whilst providing a valuable contribution to their community. The volunteering scheme now builds upon the excellent work that the LVRN has already undertaken, by endeavouring to extend its reach to reduce and prevent violent crime.

"Our philosophy is to educate the police officers of the future in their understanding of reasons ‘why’ people are involved in crime and ‘how’ best to respond. We are grateful to the Lancashire schools, colleges and community groups who are supporting this initiative and for having the foresight to do so"

— Vicky Mooney, UCLan BSc Professional Policing Course Leader

“Our philosophy is to educate the police officers of the future in their understanding of reasons ‘why’ people are involved in crime and ‘how’ best to respond. We are grateful to the Lancashire schools, colleges and community groups who are supporting this initiative and for having the foresight to do so.”

Clive Grunshaw, Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: "To tackle violent crime we need to work together across Lancashire, especially in when it comes to prevention and helping people make informed choices.

"This opportunity for professional policing students at UCLan to get involved in the work of the Violence Reduction Network and engage with young people is great for everyone involved and highlights that building strong, confident communities is a vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to tackling the causes of crime."

We publish high quality research in peer-reviewed international academic journals. Our publications range from professional commentaries and opinion pieces, to reports for industry and government bodies, to full academic research papers.

• Owen, T. and Marshall, J. L. (eds.) (2021) Rethinking Cybercrime: Critical Debates. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. ISBN 978-3-030-55840-6
• Birdsall, N., Kirby, S., and Phythian, R. (2020) Cooperative actors in domestic abuse and their association with prosecution: implications for the criminal justice system. The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles, pp.1-16.
• Bracewell, K. , Hargreaves, P. and Stanley, N. (2020) The Consequences of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Stalking Victimisation. Journal of Family Violence . ISSN 0885-7482
• Dixon, L., & Graham-Kevan, N. (2020). Assessing Risk and Treatment Need in Persons who Perpetrate Intimate Partner Violence in In Wormith, J. S., Craig, L. A., & Hogue, T. E. (2020). What Works in Violence Risk Management: Theory, Research and Practice. Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell.
• Donovan, C., Chantler, K. , Fenton, R. and Bracewell, K. (2020) Feminist Activism Among Academic Staff in the Movement to Address Gender-Based Violence on Campus. In: Collaborating for Change: Transforming Cultures to End Gender-Based Violence in Higher Education. Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press.. ISBN 9780190071820
• Graham-kevan, N., & Bates, E., (2020). Interventions with Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators. In Wormith, J. S., Craig, L. A., & Hogue, T. E. (2020). What Works in Violence Risk Management: Theory, Research and Practice. Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell
• Kingston, S., Hammond, N., & Redman, S. (2020) Women who buy sex: Converging Sexualities? London: Routledge.
• Kingston, S & Smith, N (2020) Sex counts: An examination of sexual service advertisements in a UK online directory, The British Journal of Sociology, Early View.
• Radcliffe, P., Roy, A.N., Barter, C. A, , Tompkins, C. and Brooks, M. (2020) A qualitative study of the practices and experiences of staff in multidisciplinary child sexual exploitation partnerships in three English coastal towns. Social Policy & Administration
• Richardson, B.H , Marsh, J.E , Bell, R, Fodarella, C, Ellison, L.E and Frowd, C. (2020) The advantage of low and medium attractiveness for facial composite production from modern forensic systems. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition .
• Salter, M., and McGuire, K. (2020) The Lived Experience of Hate Crime. Contributions to Phenomenology . Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3-030-33886-2
• Shorrock, S., McManus, M. A., & Kirby, S. (2020) Profile of repeat victimisations within multiagency referrals, International Review of Victimology, Volume 26 Issue 3, pp 332-343
• Todd, C., Bryce., J., & Franqueira, V. N. L. (2020). Technology, cyberstalking and domestic homicide: Informing prevention and response strategies. Policing and Society [Online]. Available at:
• Turner, I. Ian Turner (2020) Conceptualising a protection of liberal constitutionalism post 9/11: an emphasis upon rights in the social contract philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, The International Journal of Human Rights
• Turner, I. (2020) Limits to terror speech in the UK and USA: Balancing freedom of expression with national security, Amicus Curiae, Series 2, Vol 1, no 2, 201-32
• Bryce, J., Al Mutawa, N., Franqueira, V. N. L., Marrington, A., & Read, J. C. (2019). Behavioural Digital Forensics Model: Embedding Behavioural Evidence Analysis into the investigation of digital crimes. Digital Investigation, 28, 70-82.
• Kingston, S. E., Elliott, A., & Thomas, T. (2019) ‘Cost’ calculations as a barrier to gaining information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 from the Police in England and Wales, in Policing and Society: An International Journal of Research and Policy. 29, 7, pp. 834-847
• McGuire, K. (2019) Engaging with the Media in a Pre and Post Brexit World: Racism, Xenophobia and Regulation: A United Kingdom Perspective. Journal of Hate Studies, 15 (1). pp. 255-273. ISSN 1540-2126
• McGuire, K. (2019) Jack Letts: why revoking citizenship from IS recruits hasn't caused an outcry - even from those who object. The Conversation. August 19, 2019.
• Palmer, I., Kirby, S., & Phythian, R. (2019) Assessing the appetite for evidence based policing: A UK based study. International Journal of Police Science and Management. April 2019.
• Parkes, R., Graham-Kevan, N., and Bryce, J. (2019) You don't see the world through the same eyes any more: The impact of sexual offence work on police staff. The Police Journal, 92 (4). pp. 316-338. ISSN 0032-258X
• Shorrock, S., McManus, M. A., & Kirby, S. (2019) Investigating the Characteristics of Vulnerable Referrals Made to a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, Volume 13, Issue 2, June 2019, pp. 201-212.
• Skelton, F. C., Frowd, C. D., Hancock, P. J. B., Jones, H. S., Jones, B. C., Fodarella, C., Battersby, K., & Logan, K. (2019). Constructing identifiable composite faces: the importance of cognitive alignment of interview and construction procedure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 26, 507–521
• Brown, C., Portch, E., Skelton, F. C., Fodarella, C., Kuivaniemi-Smith, H., Herold, K., Hancock, P. J. B., & Frowd, C. D. (2018). The impact of external facial features on the construction of facial composites. Ergonomics, 62, 575-592
• Parkes, R., Graham-Kevan, N., and Bryce, J. (2018) ‘I put my “police head” on’: Coping strategies for working with sexual offending material. The Police Journal, 92 (3). pp. 237-263. ISSN 0032-258X
• Birdsall, N., Kirby, S., & McManus, M. (2017). Police–victim engagement in building a victim empowerment approach to intimate partner violence cases. Police Practice and Research, 18(1), 75-86.
• Turner, I. (2017). A positive, communitarian right to security in the age of super-terrorism. Democracy and Security, 13(1), 46-70.
• Al Mutawa, N., Bryce, J., Franqueira, V. N., & Marrington, A. (2016). Forensic investigation of cyberstalking cases using behavioural evidence analysis. Digital Investigation, 16, S96-S103.
• Boulton, L., McManus, M., Metcalfe, L., Brian, D., & Dawson, I. (2016). Calls for police service understanding the demand profile and the UK police response. The Police Journal, 0032258X16671032.
• Bryce, J. (2016). ICTs and child sexual offending: Exploitation through indecent images. In McGuire, M. R. and Holt, T. J. (Ed.), The Routledge international handbook of technology, crime and justice. London: Routledge.
• Bryce, J., Brooks, M., Robinson, P., Stokes, R., Irving, M., Graham-Kevan, N., Lowe, M. (2016). A qualitative examination of engagement with support services by victims of violent crime. International Review of Victimology, 22(3), 239-255.
• McIntyre, A., Hancock, P.J.B., Langton, S.R.L., & Frowd, C.D. (2016). Holistic Face Processing Can Inhibit Recognition of Forensic Facial Composites. Law and Human Behavior, 40, 128-135.
• Marsh, J., Patel, K., Labonte, K., Threadgold, E., Skelton, F., Fodarella, C., Thorley, R., Battersby, K., Frowd, C. D., Ball, L., & Vachon, F. (2016). Chatting in the face of the eyewitness: The impact of extraneous cell-phone conversation on memory for a perpetrator, Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, ISSN 1196-1961
• Owen, T. (2016). Cyber violence: Towards a predictive model drawing upon genetics, psychology and neuroscience. International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, 9(1).
• Turner, I. (2016). Arming the police in Britain A human rights analysis. The Police Journal, 90 (2), 107-127.
• Turner, I. (2016). A communitarian justification for measures to prevent terrorism in the UK. Perspective on Terrorism, 10 (5), 2-16.
• Al Mutawa, N., Bryce, J., Franqueira, V. N., & Marrington, A. (2015). Behavioural evidence analysis applied to digital forensics: An empirical analysis of child pornography cases using P2P networks. Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES), 2015 10th International Conference on, 293-302.
• Bryce, J. (2015). Cyberpsychology and human factors. Engineering & Technology Reference, 8.
• Fodarella, C., Kuivaniemi-Smith, H. J., Gawrylowicz, J., & Frowd, C. D. (2015). Forensic procedures for facial-composite construction. Journal of Forensic Practice, 17(4), 259-270.
• Kirby, S., & Peal, K. (2015). The changing pattern of domestic cannabis cultivation in the United Kingdom and its impact on the cannabis market. Journal of Drug Issues, 45(3), 279-292.
• Lowe, M., Willan, V. J., Khan, R., Brooks, M., Robinson, P., Graham-Kevan, N., Bryce, J. (2015). Predictors of engagement with support services in a sample of UK victims of violent crime. British Journal of Community Justice, 13(3), 21.
  
  Turner, I. (2015). Human rights, positive obligations, and measures to prevent human trafficking in the United Kingdom. Journal of Human Trafficking, 1(4), 296-317.
  Bryce, J., & Fraser, J. (2014). The role of disclosure of personal information in the evaluation of risk and trust in young peoples’ online interactions. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 299-306.
  Frowd, C.D., Jones, S., Fodarella, C., Skelton, F.C., Fields, S., Williams, A., Marsh, J., Thorley, R., Nelson, L., Greenwood, L., Date, L., Kearley, K., McIntyre, A., & Hancock, P.J.B. (2014). Configural and featural information in facial-composite images. Science & Justice, 54, 215-227.
• Bryce, J., & Fraser, J. (2013). “It's common sense that it's wrong”: Young people's perceptions and experiences of cyberbullying. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(11), 783-787.

• Female Offenders in the Criminal Justice System - 20th October 2017.

  This conference was jointly organised by the CJP and Lancashire Women’s Centres, with a focus upon female offenders within the Criminal Justice System. The event was opened by Amanda Greenwood, who is the new CEO of Lancashire Women’s Centres, with presentations delivered by Mahala McGuffie (Governor, HMP Styal), Dr. Michelle McManus and Dr. Rebecca Coleman (UCLan Policing), Angela Lucas (Clinks), Vickie Barritt and Karen Carter (Lancashire Women’s Centre). Key themes emerging from these presentations included the diverse needs of female offenders, the lack of research that focuses upon identifying and managing such needs, as well as the importance of through the gate services and enabling women to have a sense of community and belonging.

  During the conference, delegates had the opportunity to learn from key advocates about current priorities for services to women, as well as discuss the future direction of female services with academics, key agencies, partners and service users. The conference was held at Westleigh Conference Centre and was attended by a diverse range of individuals, including the Police, National Probation Service, local councils and third sector organisations.

• Criminal justice organisations to work with UCLan to address challenges facing sector
• Professor David Kennedy (John Jay University, New York) visited UCLan in February 2017 as part of the Distinguished Visitor Programme.

In February 2017 we were pleased to host two Policing events as part of UCLan’s Distinguished Visitors Programme. As part of this programme we were visited by Professor David Kennedy Director of the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City from John Jay College, New York. Professor David Kennedy’s work focuses on reducing violence, minimising arrest and incarceration, and strengthening relationships between law enforcement and distressed communities.

As part of Professor Kennedy’s visit, a public lecture on ‘Focussed Crime Prevention’ was hosted, with attendees coming from the university, local police forces, charities and councils. During the lecture, Professor Kennedy talked about how a common-sense form of engagement, with small numbers of exceptionally high-risk people, can reliably produce substantial reductions in serious violence. Following on from this, a half-day conference, ‘Rethinking Engagement: early intervention with victims, offenders and the community’, was also held at UCLan. The conference was designed to promote ideas in how better policing/community safety outcomes can be realised through more creative partnerships, utilising the public and private sector, as well as local communities. The speakers at the conference were Professor Kennedy, Professor Kirby (UCLan), Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary and National Police Chief Lead for Crime Operations Mike Barton and Dr Andrew Fisher, Associate Lecturer at Liverpool Hope and John Moores Universities.

• Focused Crime Prevention

A developing body of academic and applied work shows that a remarkably simple and common-sense form of engagement with small numbers of exceptionally high-risk people can reliably produce substantial reductions in serious violence. Kennedy will present the theoretical framework and explore applications in gang violence, domestic violence, drug markets, and other settings.

• - February 2016Evidence based Policing conference at UCLan

‘Exploring Evidenced Based Policing’ an N8 Policing Research Partnership Workshop

• Sarah Kingston
• Emily Cooper
• Clive Tattum
• Vicky Mooney
• Diane Scullion
• Ian Turner
• Timothy Owen
• Jo Bryce
• Evan Lawrence
• Beth Richardson
• Charlie Frowd
• Michaela Preddy
• Andy Cameron
• Ann Beswick
• Bernard Sheridan
• John Dempsey
• Javad Yazdani

For further information, contact criminaljustice@uclan.ac.uk