7 A body of knowledge
77. The creation of the College of Policing presents
an opportunity to link the world's best universities with the
world's best police service. We have previously recommended that
collaborative work with universities should be overseen by the
College of Policing so that could be standardised across forces,
both for the benefit of national professional standards and for
officers, whose qualifications should be recognised from force
to force.[98]
78. The potential for work in this area was also
highlighted by the Home Secretary during her speech at the College
of Policing Conference in October:
As the College matures it will need to continue
fostering links with universities and academics. It will need
to constantly develop research and generate an ever better evidence
base on the effectiveness of different strategies and practices
for reducing crime. The projects you support and work on will
also need to have a strong evaluating base so that we can improve
practice over time. And I am clear that the Police Innovation
Fund must go further too, to ensure that every bid is evaluated
properly and its results shared with the College and other forces
to learn the lessons of innovative projects. [99]
79. However, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for a
separate collective body of knowledge from which policing could
develop. He argued that universities "don't care about policing":
You have engineering faculties and medical faculties,
but nobody cares about policing. We just have the responsibility
for keeping 60 million people safe. It seems to me that we need
a body of knowledge in the big universities from which something
like the College of Policing can then train, set standards and
monitor.
He argued that UK universities should create chairs
of policing and policing faculties which the College of Policing
could then work with, rather than lead on.[100]
80. Sir Hugh Orde thought that the College should
and would do more with universities through commissioning and
partnership working, but that the College was "the right
place for the research undertaken by officers on what works in
policing".[101]
Professor Dame Shirley Pearce had "huge sympathy" with
Sir Bernard's proposal reflected on Sir Bernard's idea, and said
that forces and universities needed to be establishing partnerships
to develop a knowledge base. The College should support that,
not take its place.[102]
81. The creation of the College of Policing is
an opportunity to link the world's best universities with the
world's best police service. The College should work directly
with universities, and also encourage local forces to do likewise.
Additionally, the key role for the College will be to bring together
the best research, the best evidence, the best experience and
knowledge, and disseminate that through signposting and guidance
to benefit every police officer. For some considerable time there
has been an Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University whose
research and findings have been widely recognised.
98 Home Affairs Committee, Third Report of Session
2013-14, Leadership and standards in the police, HC 67-I, Paras
35-36 Back
99
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretarys-college-of-policing-speech Back
100
Home Affairs Committee, Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000,
HC 711, Oral evidence, 11 November 2014, Qq 232-233 Back
101
Qq 17-18 Back
102
Q153 Back
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