30 August 2009

Policing experts to gather in Dundee

Police, policy makers and academics will be gathering in Dundee on 1st September to hear researchers from Scotland, England and the USA discuss different dimensions of the interplay between policing and communities.

This one-day conference on “Communities and Policing: evidence and innovation in Scotland” is being organised by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) , a consortium of 12 universities in Scotland supported by investment from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council.

Director of SIPR, Professor Nick Fyfe, of the University of Dundee, said “One year on from the publication of the report by the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee's on community policing in Scotland, it is timely to assess the research evidence relating to the impact of different community policing initiatives and to learn more about innovative strategies for policing communities in Scotland and elsewhere.”

The Keynote Speaker for the Conference will be David Kennedy, Director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York. His work focuses on strategies for assisting troubled communities, and he is widely respected for his ground-breaking problem solving police exercises aimed at serious youth violence. His talk ‘Common Ground: Crime, Race, and Community’ will address what has been learned from a 15-year research programme in the United States which has shown that it is possible to intervene with the most serious offenders in ways that dramatically reduce crime, reduce incarceration, strengthen communities, and address racial conflict between communities and law enforcement.

Other speakers will focus specifically on the Scottish experience of community policing, including new approaches in Strathclyde, the impact of community wardens in Dundee, the work of community police officers in Lothian and Borders, and an assessment of local policing initiatives across Scotland.

The Conference will also be addressed by Chief Constable Pat Shearer, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, and leading researchers and police and business representatives. Additional sessions will focus on strategies for policing changing communities in Scotland, policing the ‘virtual community’, and inter-agency partnerships.

The conference takes place at the West Park Conference Centre, University of Dundee, on Tuesday September 1st. If members of the Press would like to attend the conference, please contact: Tim Heilbronn at SIPR on 01382 384205.

For more on the conference and SIPR see: www.sipr.ac.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT SIPR:
Established in 2006 and supported by investment from the Scottish Funding Council and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, SIPR is a collaboration between 12 Scottish universities* established to carry out high quality, independent research and to make evidence-based contributions to policing policy and practice.

The consortium of Higher Education Institutions involved in the Institute are: the Universities of Aberdeen, Abertay, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews, Stirling, Strathclyde, and The West of Scotland, and Glasgow Caledonian University, Robert Gordon University and Napier University.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk