Policing Area's of Research Interests

Our aim is to produce policing research that is effective, fair, ethical, and trusted by the public.

Research Expertise

L-PACE is built on Lancaster University’s world leading reputation for the application of social and behavioural sciences to policing Areas of Research Interest, showcasing Lancaster’s multidisciplinary excellence in computational social science, psychology, linguistics, law, criminology and sociology, in the analysis of visual, linguistic and sensor data.

The centre's focus on socio-technical research enables us to take a broader view of the Policing Areas of Research Interests, addressing challenges and providing knowledge and insights that could significantly improve policing performance.

Our aim is to ensure that policing is shaped by the latest and best scientific expertise, and that the UK’s leading researchers are able to challenge and innovate in partnership with policing to provide practical solutions to current policing problems to improve public safety.

Areas of Research Interest

L-PACE demonstrates expertise and strengths across the following Policing Areas of Research Interest (ARI's), and aims to provide practical solutions to current policing problems:

Building and Maintaining Trust

Lancaster P-ACE explores the potential benefits as well as vulnerabilities of utilising Extended Reality (XR) technologies in the training of police first responders as part of the UKRI project ‘FirstRespondXR’.

Lancaster has also developed an extensive program of research using behavioural data (from body-worn cameras, smartphones, CCTV) to study the role of Procedural Justice in building trust through police-community interactions

Crime Prevention

Lancaster has pioneered the study of safer physical public spaces through analysis of CCTV, body-worn camera and smartphone footage – transforming how we understand behaviour in night-time economy zones, transport hubs, trains and buses, and roving terrorist attacks.

Lancaster has also been developing impact evaluation tools for policing that go beyond the state of the art analysing footage of real-life interactions between police and public captured on camera.

Personal Safety

As well as widely published work on the wellbeing of police officers and the policing of people with mental health conditions, public policing and police accountability, L-PACE leads the “When the uniform doesn’t fit” project – the first ever National Police Uniform and Equipment Survey, in collaboration with the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), the NPCC, CoP, the Superintendent’s Association, the Home Office, UNISON, and Blue Light Commercial

Identification and Tracing

Lancaster P-ACE examines how psychological science can help to protect ordinary people from the harms that deep-fake technologies. We work with police partners to develop an innovative, forensically assured, verification system to detect non-consensual deep-fake intimate imagery.

L-PACE also explores situational awareness from the perspective of interoperability – developing new, psychologically informed interoperability training for police, fire and ambulance services

Surveillance and Sensing

L-PACE includes experts in psychology and behavioural analytics using "lab in a box” solutions for in field mobile sensing, allowing officers to use advanced technologies for social & environmental sensing of conversations, human presence, activity/gesture recognition.

L-PACE explores investigative interviewing process, as well as examining police interactions and interviews with deaf victims of domestic violence and the deployment of improved technologies to support communication and interpretation