Collaborative practitioner-researcher partnerships in policing: Two researchers' reflections

Long-term, collaborative practitioner-researcher partnerships offer many benefits to police agencies and research institutions, generating systematic evidence that enables agencies to become learning organizations and expands the base of knowledge. We reflect on our experiences with five such partnerships to discuss the scope, operation, and structure of collaboration. Given their skills and independence, researchers can perform functions that serve valuable purposes, and that probably could not be performed as well by equally well-trained personnel in the police chain-of-command. Research partnerships need not be limited to 'policy' research, as researchers can shed light on a wide range of topics that have practical and theoretical significance. They need not confine themselves to randomized controlled trials, and partnerships need not conform to any prescribed structure, as they will be shaped by the joint characteristics of the agency and the researcher(s). They confront challenges that stem from the political environment, which may also afford opportunities.