Policing is under pressure and scrutiny. Personnel sign up to make a difference but too often report going home unable to feel that they have; not because they haven’t been busy but rather the working conditions and systems are out of date and out of touch (Baker and Richardson, 2023). …
As we look forward to 2026, the year promises to be one of both challenge and opportunity, with national reviews about leadership and structure underway. EMPAC has a track record of unwavering agility to both move with the times and influence the future proactively through dynamic research insight. At the…
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a concept formally coined in 1980, although its symptoms had been evident for many years. McGill graduate psychoanalyst Chaim Felix Shatan worked with Vietnam veterans in the late 1960s, and by collaborating with a group including Robert Lifton, Nancy Andreasen, Arthur Egendorf, Mardi Horowitz…
A new survey has been launched by EMPAC Senior Research Fellow, Dave Hill. I have decided to embark on a journey to investigate the complex issue of trust and confidence, and I want to start this journey by reversing the lens that is currently in place within policing in England…
As we await the release of the White Paper, EMPAC Research Fellow and retired detective, Steve Dodd, offers his personal views about the importance of investing in neighbourhood policing in order to drive intelligence. The importance of Neighbourhood Policing In a democratic society each of us has a responsibility within…
There is much attention being given to Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) both internally (the workforce) and externally (the public). This focus on reacting to wrong doing means a trajectory of sacking police personnel (internally) and reactive hotspotting (externally) as if this is the only pessimistic thing the NPCC and Home…
In an extended, 2-part feature, EMPAC raises some critical thoughts about the importance of driving a positive occupational working culture; which is perhaps the single most pressing challenge, and opportunity, for contemporary policing to regain public trust and confidence. Policing needs a high performance culture and to enable this there…
Doctoral Training Partnerships offer high-quality and coherent postgraduate training covering the full range of the social sciences and areas of interdisciplinary research. The Midlands Graduate School DTP awards around 65 highly prestigious ESRC-funded doctoral scholarships to successful applicants annually. First established in 2016 and re-accredited in 2023, the Midlands Graduate…
EMPAC Research Fellow, Steve Dodd, explores how rural communities are vital to the nation’s wellbeing, yet have unique challenges, and need a solution-oriented adoption of proactive intelligence to stay safe. 90% of England is made up of rural areas, and that 71% of UK landmass is agricultural. Rural areas are…
The United Nations (founded in 1945, post WW2) has 193 member states and exists to promote peace and security. With bases in New York, Geneva and Nairobi, in 2015 it launched its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all aimed at making positive change in civil society. The SDGs have an…