About

The Police Foundation is the only independent think tank focused exclusively on improving policing and developing knowledge and understanding of policing and crime reduction. Our mission is to generate evidence and develop ideas which deliver better policing and a safer society. We do this by producing trusted, impartial research and by working with the police and their partners to create change.

Read about how we are funded.

Read more about how we operate as a think tank.

Our partners

We work with a range of partners from across policing by carrying out independent research to inform police policy and practice, through providing training and consultancy and by making space for public debate about policing. In recent years these have included police forces and policing bodies such as the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing, the private sector, charitable trusts and universities.

We have a reputation for objectivity and fairness. All our work is independent, evidence-based and politically impartial.

Our impact

The Police Foundation was founded in 1979, by the late Lord Harris of Greenwich, to provide an independent source of research and analysis to inform policing policy and practice. With social and technological changes transforming patterns of crime, this mission is more important today than ever.

The Police Foundation has had a major impact on policing in the UK:

  • Our Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales is the first review of its kind in many years and is regularly cited by government agencies, policing bodies and senior figures.
  • Our work on the roles of responsibilities of the police helped pave the way for the introduction of PCSOs.
  • Our Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 helped to open the debate about reform of our drug laws.
  • Our Roadcraft publication is recognised as the gold standard manual for police driver training in the UK.

If you would like to know more about our work, or have a project you would like to discuss please contact us in the first instance on . We are always keen to hear from organisations working in the criminal justice and policing arena.