2 October 2008

Former Chief Constable appointed to Honorary Professorship

Mr Peter Wilson, former Chief Constable of Fife Constabulary, has been awarded an Honorary Professorship in the School of Social and Environmental Sciences at the University of Dundee.

Mr Wilson retired from the police service in May 2008 after a very distinguished career that included being awarded the Queen Police Medal in 1998, being President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) in 2005-06, and, from 2001 to 2008, Chief Constable of Fife Constabulary.

From 2005, Mr Wilson worked very closely with Scotland’s universities by taking the lead on behalf of ACPOS for the establishment of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR). The SIPR is a collaborative project bringing together researchers from 12 Scottish universities, led by the University of Dundee.

'The idea of a research institute for Scotland which could provide an evidence base on which to develop policing policy and practice originated with Mr Wilson and it was his commitment to this project that lead to the discussions with the Scottish Funding Council and a successful application under their Strategic Research Development Grant scheme,' said Professor Nick Fyfe, founding Director of the SIPR.

'The result is a unique institute. There is no other policing research centre in the world that can boast such a wide-ranging partnership between the police and university research community.'

Mr Wilson represented ACPOS on SIPR’s Executive Committee until he retired and now chairs its International Advisory Committee.

Mr Wilson said: 'I am delighted that I will be able to continue making a contribution to the work of the Institute through the generous award of a professorship by the University of Dundee. The imaginative collaboration between the Scottish Police Service and the university sector in Scotland has already been described as ground- breaking by police organisations and universities across the world. I look forward to working with Professor Fyfe to further demonstrate the benefits of evidence-based policing methods within Scotland, and to policing and academic communities internationally where there is great interest in what is being achieved.'

During his police career, Mr Wilson was also awarded an LLB from the University of Edinburgh and the Diploma in Applied Criminology from the University of Cambridge.

SIPR brings together researchers from 12 of Scotland’s universities from at least 15 different disciplines committed to working with the police to undertake relevant research.

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