Academic team: Professor Graham Pike and Dr Zoe Walkington
Policing partners: West Midlands Police
Academic partners: Professor Mark Levine and Dr Richard Philpot from Lancaster University
Status: Complete
Proportionality, particularly as it relates to ethnicity and legitimacy, is very important for policing and the issue is high on every force agenda.
The goal of the current project is to explore interactions that involve use of force between West Midlands Police officers and citizens, by analysing body-worn camera footage.
The research aims to determine whether the actions and behaviours of both officers and citizens differ depending on a range of factors, including ethnicity.
The Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) has agreed a new strategy for 2027–2031, marking an important next phase in its development.