The Canadian Review of Policing Research
(2004)

EDITOR’S NOTE

Christopher Murphy

In 1998, in a special edition of the Canadian Journal of Criminology focusing on the declining role of research in Canada criminal justice policy, I wrote the following about the state of police research in Canada:

“In summary I have described a police research environment in Canada that despite ongoing academic and police interest can be described as underdeveloped, under funded, and increasingly marginal to policy making. This environment provides a weak foundation for research and the development of a critical body of policing knowledge; it limits the effectiveness of police governance and inhibits the evolution of police professionalism and organizational innovation… For things to improve a new configuration of research funding, working relationships and communications infrastructure will be required if police research as an intellectual, public policy and professional activity is to flourish in the new millennium”1

Unfortunately, while policing in Canada has changed considerably since we entered the new millennium, not much has changed regarding support for the production and communication of social-science based police research. From the closures in the mid-1990s of the federal Solicitor General Research Section and its research publication program, and the Canadian Police College Journal, until this past year2 , there has not been a publication dedicated exclusively to Canadian police research. In other words, anyone interested in the study of Canadian policing would have had to look in a variety of diverse sources to discover what, if anything, was happening in Canadian police research.

This apparent lack of interest in police research is particularly puzzling as Canada spends more than most countries on public policing and even more on private policing; it has some of the most modern police forces in the world, and is home to a number of internationally-known policing scholars and researchers. This lack of support is especially troubling in a post 9/11 era when dramatic changes in the mandate, structure and operations of public police and policing are taking place. Perhaps our curiously Canadian ambivalence to research is based on our too easy reliance on the United States and Britain to supply us with research and innovation when required. However, Canada needs a healthy indigenous police research environment. We need research to document, monitor, evaluate and refine the ongoing operations of Canadian policing, in its distinctive Canadian context. Good social science research can produce new information, knowledge and analysis and contribute to more effective and efficient organizational and operational practices as well as stimulate important critical and theoretical policy debate. Just as professional medicine developed on the basis of research-based knowledge and examined technique, professional policing in Canada will progress within a diverse and active social science research environment.

Fortunately, a number of individuals and institutions involved in Canadian policing and police scholarship shared the belief that something needed to be done in order to stimulate the production and communication of Canadian police research information, ideas and debate. Ted Herbert, formerly of the Police Leadership Program at Dalhousie University; Tonita Murray, Director General of the Canadian Police College; and Curtis Clark. Coordinator of the Bachelor of Professional Arts, Criminal Justice Program, at Athabasca University, contributed their “spare” time and expertise as founding editors and persuaded their respective organizations to contribute the necessary start-up funds required to get this publication off the ground.

Collectively we decided what was needed was a publication that would encourage Canadian policing research by communicating its scope and diversity. We particularly wanted to make this research accessible to a broad public and professional audience and not just those involved in doing the research. To do this we asked the policing academics and researchers we knew to provide us with “summaries” of their longer, recently published, research articles, books or reports. This approach allows the Canadian Review of Policing Research to offer in one volume a large number of readable overviews of often complex research projects and articles. For anyone whose interest is sparked by the summary review and desires to read the complete work, we also provide full reference or access to the original published work.

This publishing approach allowed us to bring together in one volume the summaries of 27 books, journal articles and research studies of various Canadian academic and police researchers on a wide variety of policing topics. The reviews are organized under the following subject areas:

  • Contemporary Policing Theory and Policy
  • Police Management, Leadership and Organization
  • Police Operations and Programs
  • Police Learning and Development

In putting out this first volume we were pleased to find that if you dig deep and wide enough that police research in Canada is struggling but still alive. The range and diversity of contributions in this volume suggest that despite the lack of research funding and publication outlets, police research and theorizing though modest in scale is eclectic in scope and high in quality. Indeed we can now anticipate that the Canadian Review of Policing Research will be able to grow annually as we add readers and even more contributors.

Finally, we hope the CRPR will appeal to anyone involved with or interested in Canadian policing. You can support Canadian police research by becoming a long-term personal or institutional subscriber. Your subscription will provide you and your organization or library with both a hard copy and on-line version of this invaluable source on Canadian policing knowledge. It will also encourage the ongoing development of Canadian policing research. To make this an offer hard to refuse we have made the first edition! We do this in the hope that you will agree to subscribe in future at the modest annual rate. All you have to do is fill out the attached subscription form. Remember, you will get both a hard copy and an on-line version of the Review. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy what we hope will be an annual publication that grows along with the expansion of police research in Canada.

Endnotes

1. Murphy, Christopher. 1999. “The current and future state of police research policy in Canada”, The Canadian Journal of Criminology, vol. 41, no. 2.

2. The Canadian Journal of Police and Security Studies began publication in 2003. It publishes original articles on policing practice, policy and management.