EMPAC Senior Research Fellow, Professor Terry O’Connell, here offers a thought leadership piece about the culture of policing, professional standards and authentic reform. In recent discussions about policing wellbeing, increasing attention has been given to the relationship between trauma exposure and misconduct. Reflective commentary from practitioners has raised an important…
EMPAC Research Fellow, Steve Dodd, assesses the current UK Government plans for a National Police Service with a whopping overall annual budget of £20,965,700,000. The starting point might be to consider what problem are the Government seeking to solve? The National Audit Office (November 2025) insights about police productivity concluded:…
EMPAC encourages all our readers to get involved and support new research from the midlands which is about tackling domestic violence and abuse using new SmartSafeSigning. The research team from the Universities of Wolverhampton and Lancaster have partnered with Women’s Aid, SignHealth, and West Midlands Police to explore how D/deaf…
There is evidence that the front-line of policing comprises, too often, the most junior in policing. This means vital experience can be lacking in investigating officers and their supervision. At no fault of their own, they may also be carrying excessive workloads: all of which is now a symptom of…
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unable to feel that they have; not because they haven’t been busy but rather the working conditions and systems are out of date and out of touch (Baker and Richardson, 2023).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…