News & Events

Research on reducing knife crime, for safer streets

The need to make streets safer The UK Government has outlined its priority to halve knife crime within 10 years. In England and Wales, there were 50,510 knife or sharp instrument offences in the year ending March 2024, and the UK Home Office Homicide Index data reports that sharp instruments…

New Science and Innovation Manager vacancy

  East Midlands Special Operations Unit are seeking a Regional Science and Innovation Manager, on a full-time, fixed-term ( end 31st March 2026) basis, to provide leadership, management and coordination of Science and Innovation across East Midlands Policing. Working with regional and national colleagues, you will provide a consistent and…

New SOC research: OCBs not OCGs

New research is being driven at the Institute of Policing, at the University of Staffordshire, to help tackle the national threat and harm from serious and organised crime (SOC). The evolving nature of criminal enterprise involves an intricate web of criminal networks, where traditional boundaries blur and new threats emerge.…

EMSOU Internship opportunities

Are you looking to secure an internship with one of the most dynamic policing units? The East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) is offering an exciting opportunity for a Year in Industry (YII) placement to work and learn in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, to begin in September 2025 for…

Prevention: less crime, less costs, more public confidence

What prevention really means EMPAC’s Professor John Coxhead presented at the national Public Policy Exchange Conference on the 15th October (https://www.publicpolicyexchange.co.uk/event.php?eventUID=OJ15-PPE) reporting on the key research that shows prevention works better than reaction. Given budgetary pressures on all public services, including policing, different ways of doing things is now an…

Using metacognition circles for police CPD

EMPAC’s Professor John Coxhead has been supporting the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) in their efforts to improve continual professional development (CPD) for police officers – particularly those in middle ranks who feel left behind.  Dr Coxhead has previously presented research to the Department of Trade and Industry…

Neighbourhood Policing needs a cultural level outcome

The limitations of Neighbourhood Policing training Policing suffered seismic cuts since 2010, eroding neighbourhood policing as it was then known, and forcing a reactive model. That push towards a reactive triage style correlates to a period when policing performance has plummeted, including, perhaps most important of all, in public trust…

OCBs not OCGs

Organised crime is big business and most of it is about making profit. The amount of criminal profit being made is eyewatering. That’s not just from financial crime, but all crime. Think about how much money is being made from crime compared to how much money is going into funding…

Leicestershire Police leading the way in reducing offending

EMPAC is pleased to be supporting a new Offender Management Pilot, termed ‘7 Pathways Plus’, led by Chief Inspector James Heggs of Leicestershire Police, which offers much promise in reducing long term offending. The work builds on existing approaches, specifically seeking to widen the skills set and capabilities at a…

Solution Oriented: the future of policing

A fiscal crisis threatens the policing model There is general agreement on the need to revitalise local, or neighbourhood, policing. Given budgetary pressures the challenge is how to do that. A new community model of policing is emerging that could grow without extensive public funding. We have an opportunity to…