From Politics to Possibility: Understanding England’s Distinctive Path in Police Higher Education Reform

Within a continuation of neoliberalism and New Public Management approaches focusing on efficiency and effectiveness, this article discusses the direction of police-academic partnerships and the context of Evidence-based policing (EBP) agendas driving changes in police education pathways in England. The article reflects on the development, positioning and politicization of EBP, the College of Policing and emerging funding streams and partnerships. These have resulted in narrower understandings of EBP informing degree entry routes and English police professionalization attempts. Based on the views of different providers of accredited and non-accredited policing degrees in England, our experiences and knowledge, as well as secondary literature, we reflect on police-academic partnerships, EBP, the marketisation of higher education and neoliberalism. The article highlights challenges and critiques of this enduring neoliberal approach and how it can stifle partnerships, innovation, policing research and practice. By illustrating how intertwined police educational pathways and narrow EBP agendas have become, this article advocates for a new way forward that acknowledges and appreciates a wider understanding of research and evidence to inform practice. A more pluralistic framework, with clearer aims and structures on how academia and policing collaborate effectively and within each other's boundaries, is needed to improve policing and police science.