Prestigious guest list as policing centre honours its former chair

The Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) honoured its former chair with the recent Steven Chase Memorial Lecture and Award. Dr Steven Chase OBE (pictured), who had been the police-elected Chair of the Centre for five years before becoming a Visiting Fellow and who had also been Thames Valley Police’s Director of People, sadly passed away last autumn.

Professor Jean Hartley, CPRL’s outgoing Academic Director, co-chaired the event with CPRL Vice-Chair and Chief Superintendent of Greater Manchester Police, Phil Davies, at the Milton Keynes campus on Thursday 15 June. Some of the speakers and attendees are pictured below.

Martin Hewitt, another Visiting Fellow and former Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), delivered the inaugural lecture on ‘Unusually challenging times’. The high-profile discussants on these challenges were Andy Cooke (His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services) and Andy Marsh (Chief Constable and Chief Executive of the College of Policing).

The OU’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tim Blackman, also presented the Steven Chase Memorial Award to Dr Paul Walley for his research work with Gloucestershire Constabulary. This was a fitting climax to CPRL’s Engagement Day which included a membership group meeting for academics and police in the morning, afternoon workshops and an evening drinks reception outside the Jennie Lee building.