Article Learning to Work Together: Police and Academics

Abstract There has been increasing recognition in Australia of the potential for collaborative research relationships between police and academics. Despite significant improvements in partnership arrangements and research outcomes, however, it would be naïve to suggest that the working relationship is always smooth. Drawing on the author’s personal experiences and understanding of working with police, this article considers the views of both police and academics working together. It suggests that continuous communication, negotiation, and understanding where the other party sits are crucial to productive working relationships. The extent to which police organizations and acade-mia are recognizing the mutually advantageous research partnership is, in Australia at least, reflected in the grants and government funding opportunities provided to universities and police organizations to encourage collaborative research. Such projects em-ploy varied methodologies and while the dominant trend is quantitative research (Telep et al., 2008: 445) there has been an increase in methodologie