Taking a lead to address a shortage of detectives and ensuring full provision of police education, the University of West London (UWL) has launched its new Institute for Policing Studies to continue its commitment to training and educating forces across London.

The Institute will oversee newly introduced Policing degree courses at the University and cement UWL’s work to advance education and research in all areas of crime and policing. The inauguration of this new Institution was celebrated by police representatives across the country, as well as the Mayor of Ealing and police cadets from Ealing and Hounslow.

At the Institute’s launch this week, the Director of the Institute, Dr Mark Roycroft, spoke to an audience of police officers, policy makers and researchers about the importance of delivering a full provision of police education to create complete career pathways.

Dr Roycroft, a former detective chief inspector, also discussed how the Institute will help tackle the nationwide shortage of police detectives whilst addressing key issues such as diversity, artificial intelligence and extremism in the field.

This is the latest move in UWL’s ongoing partnership with the police, of which previous examples include the University’s collaboration with Babcock International Group to train Student Police Officers to degree level through the Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF).

Professor Peter John CBE, Vice-Chancellor of the University, said:

Here at UWL we have a long history of policing, starting more than 40 years ago with the teaching of Law and Criminology, and later growing to incorporate cyber security and gang culture where we do so much in teaching and research.

Through our Institute of Policing Studies, we can continue this work alongside everything we do to train and support the Metropolitan Police force and positively impact on the future of policing.