As the Academic Course Director at the Liverpool Centre for Advanced Police Studies (LCAPS), I leverage over 30 years of comprehensive experience in Policing, Intelligence, and Investigations across the UK and Canada’s public and private sectors. My work centers on researching, developing, and delivering specialized academic programmes in areas critically challenging to modern policing, such as Fraud, Cybercrime, and Intelligence.
We utilize our team’s collective global professional networks and wealth of experience to provide insight, education, and continuous research, ensuring practitioners stay current on evolving patterns and trends.
At LCAPS, we utilize our team’s collective global professional networks and wealth of experience to provide insight, education, and continuous research, ensuring practitioners stay current on evolving patterns and trends. Education is a key factor in addressing the complexity of modern policing challenges.
Increased demand on police services can be linked to the evolution of the criminal and technological environment, driving a surge in volume crime like Fraud and Retail Theft. The reason why crime occurs can vary widely depending on the crime type, however, recent statistics show crime in England and Wales has increased 7% year over year to March 2025 (ONS, 2025). Fraud and theft were identified as the most prominent categories, with fraud increasing by 31% and shop theft by 20% year over year (ONS, 2025). The high incidence of these crimes has a direct and significant impact on public trust and confidence. One way to address this would be to leverage the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule), which posits that a small cohort of prolific offenders commit the vast majority of crime. Therefore, success hinges on the ability to proactively identify patterns, trends, and characteristics of organised crime groups. A focused, proactive response based on this analysis should result in a large reduction in volume crime, thereby rebuilding public confidence.
Public confidence in policing is continually strained by media coverage of volume crime, exemplified by reports (Sky, 2024) suggesting police attend fewer than one in four incidents of Shop Theft. However, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) countered this narrative in February 2024, citing early positive impacts from the Retail Crime Action Plan 2023 including 100% attendance in a sample of incidents involving violence. This national, unified strategy prioritises high-harm incidents and takes an intelligence-led approach to focus investigative resources. By actively targeting prolific and repeat offenders, the plan aims to strategically reduce overall crime volume, thereby directly addressing the core issues impacting public trust.
Facilitated by globalization and the digital age, Economic Crime has become one of the fastest-growing crimes in the UK (Economic Crime Plan, 2023). This surge is dominated by Fraud, which accounted for over 42% of all reported crime in England and Wales in 2024 (ONS, 2025). The sheer volume of these offences makes it challenging for investigators to quickly determine whether an incident of Theft or Fraud involves an individual offender or an organised crime group. To navigate this complexity, investigative bodies must increasingly rely on Intelligence and Crime Pattern Analysis (CPA). This intelligence-led approach is crucial for identifying key patterns, trends, and relationships, thereby providing the necessary foundation for understanding and tackling the problem effectively.
While an Undergraduate or Master’s degree is not a standard requirement within the National Police Promotion Framework (NPPF), academic education and research are demonstrably vital for strengthening operational policing and providing strategic support to leadership roles.
The importance of academic research in effectively responding to key policing challenges cannot be overstated. Foundational concepts quoted by police leaders today such as ‘Broken Windows,’ ‘Intelligence-Led,’ and ‘Problem-Oriented Approach’ are decades old, yet still serve as effective guides. Given the rapidly changing landscape, it is possible these models require updating or replaced with strategies better suited for modern challenges. Academic research and education are key to driving this evolution. By effectively integrating operational practice with academia, we can shape and guide the future police response and equip leaders to tackle the shifting demands of contemporary policing.
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While an Undergraduate or Master’s degree is not a standard requirement within the National Police Promotion Framework (NPPF), academic education and research are demonstrably vital for strengthening operational policing and providing strategic support to leadership roles. Recognizing the demand for specialized expertise, LCAPS offers a focused suite of Master’s programmes in Policing, Intelligence, Financial Crime, Cybercrime, Terrorism, and Security. Crucially, these programmes are delivered entirely online and part-time, utilizing recorded lectures and downloadable materials to ensure they seamlessly fit the demanding schedules of working professionals.
For more information you can download a 2026 prospectus of our available courses.
