Understanding the lessons of policing the Covid-19 pandemic

Understanding the lessons of policing the Covid-19 pandemic

Project
Related Themes: Police effectiveness, Police legitimacy, Policing and Covid-19
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The Police Foundation and Crest Advisory have completed a major research project on UK policing and the Covid-19 pandemic. The project looked to at how policing has coped with the Covid-19 pandemic by examining the strengths and weaknesses of the current policing model in England and Wales, with a particular focus on structures; use of technology; strategic planning; and public consent.

The research was conducted using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies: analysis of crime and incident data, including demand forecasting, structured interviews, focus groups; and polls.

Throughout the project, the teams worked closely with an appointed expert advisory group: Martin Hewitt; Sue Mountstevens; Olivia Pinkney; Mike Cunningham; Owen Weatherill; Rt Hon Charles Clarke and Professor Ben Bradford.

The final report makes recommendations for improvements ahead of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice. The findings will then inform the Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales.

Find out more about the project 

All project authors:

Rick Muir, Director, The Police Foundation; Harvey Redgrave, Chief Executive, Crest 

Mike Skidmore, Senior Researcher, The Police Foundation; Jon Clements, Director of Development, Crest 

Elisabeth Aitkenhead, Researcher, The Police Foundation; Jessica Lumley, Senior Analyst, Crest 

Project Authors

Rick Muir

Dr Rick Muir is Director of the Police Foundation, the UK’s independent policing think tank. He has led the Foundation since 2015 and oversaw its work on the Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales. He was previously Associate Director at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), leading the Institute’s research on public services, including policing and criminal justice. He has a D Phil in Politics from the University of Oxford. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Northumbria University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). He was previously a local councillor in both Oxford and Hackney.

Michael Skidmore

Michael Skidmore joined the Police Foundation in May 2014 as a researcher on a project studying the impact of organised crime on local communities. He previously worked as a researcher in government for six years, most recently in Home Office Science where he developed a portfolio of work looking at the profiles of organised crime offenders. Michael also worked at HM Inspectorate of Prisons where he led the research for a number of national projects looking at the provision of alcohol treatment services and the treatment of remand prisoners in custody. He has also been a support worker for ex-offenders in a community and probation setting and has an MSc in forensic psychology. Michael did his DPhil in criminology and policing studies at the University of Portsmouth.

Beth Aitkenhead

Beth joined the Police Foundation in September 2019. She has expertise on hidden harms, in particular domestic abuse, child sexual abuse and child criminal exploitation. At the Police Foundation Beth has worked on several research projects, including Turning the tide against online child sexual abuse, published in July 2022, Understanding the characteristics of serious fraud offending in the UK (May 2023) and Policing the pandemic (January 2022). Before joining she led a programme of health research with the National Institute of Health Research and was involved in organisational development and training with Health Education England.

Beth is currently leading on the Policing young adults project, which focuses on the over-representation of young adults in the criminal justice system and tailoring an approach that recognises many young adults have experienced exploitation and significant trauma. Alongside this she is working on the Disruption of serious and organised crime project.