The Challenges and Benefits of Research Co-production and Knowledge Mobilisation in Policing: The N8 Policing Research Partnership initiative

• In Event: Mobilising Research Evidence and Knowledge in Policing: Comparative Experiences

Abstract

This paper draws on the experiences of the N8 Policing Research Partnership in the north of England since 2013. The core philosophy of this initiative is that those who are going to use research and apply the knowledge base should be involved in building it by actively co-producing the evidence. It offers a different approach to the relationship between research and policing to that traditionally associated with the Evidence Based Policing model. Rather, it is focused on building collaborative relationships of trust, openness and honesty structured around ‘independent inter-dependence’ in both the co-production of knowledge and the mobilisation of knowledge to inform policing practices. From this perspective, policing professionals need to become knowledge producers as well as evidence users. The paper explores and analyses the attributes and challenges of knowledge co-production in the context of policing. In so doing, it argues for a transformation in both the way academic researchers engage with policing partners and the place and value of knowledge, data and evidence within policing.

Author

• Adam Crawford, University of Leeds