Policing Innovation Forum

The annual N8 PRP Policing Innovation Forum brings together police, academics, and wider stakeholders for a day of knowledge exchange, innovation, and collaboration.

Improving Policing for Black People

On 21 June 2023, around 60 people gathered in Penrith to discuss research, activism and innovative projects related to the  NPCC’s Police Race Action Plan. Representatives from academia, police, policy organisations, non-profits, and local government took part in panel and group discussions, sharing experience and best practice, identifying knowledge gaps, and finding new opportunities for collaboration.

Partnerships and VAWG in Public Places

In 2021, the Innovation Forum looked at how to build effective partnerships in policing. Over three days events were held on ‘what works in police partnerships’, case studies on partnership working to tackle cybercrime, and police-public health partnerships. In 2022, the seventh Innovation Forum will bring together major campaigns, influential research, and innovative projects – a day of knowledge exchange, innovation, and collaboration. 

Contemporary Challenges

In 2018 and 2019, the Innovation Forum took on two major challenge in contemporary policing: knife crime and mental health. In 2018, role play and workshops were used to discuss the role of police in responding to mental health crises and strategies for multi-agency working. Related Small Grant research includes a report on the consequences of novel psychoactive substances for users and police and a review of a West Yorkshire Police programme that embeds mental health nurses in district police stations. In 2019, the Forum looked at the problem of knife crime, including public approaches and education initiatives. Following these discussions N8 PRP funded Small Grant research into the efficacy of knife crime images in intervention strategies (report due to be published early 2022).

Domestic Abuse

In 2016 and 2017, the Innovation Forum brought together key stakeholders to discuss policing domestic abuse. In 2016 this was discussed in the context of vulnerability, and in 2017 the focus was on early intervention strategies. These events generated a lot of research supported by N8 PRP, including innovation in domestic abuse, the use of body-worn cameras at domestic abuse incidents, how interviews can identify and manage manipulative presentation techniques in coercive control cases, and police responses to coercive control. 

Cybercrime

In 2015, the inaugural Policing Innovation Forum focused on the challenge of cybercrime. Delegates took part in ‘marketplace discussions’ on key areas including ‘virtual patrol’, business engagement, and international challenges. Subsequent research investigated how to effectively police cryptocurrency, and the investigative use of emergent technologies. One report considered how to realise the potential of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), and another project ran a pilot scheme using ANPR to map modern slavery vehicular activity.