Keeping Society Safe: A Three Peer Response
Fri, 10 Oct 2014 15:56:00 BST
Three members of the House of Lords; Baroness Harris of Richmond for the Liberal Democrats, Baroness Henig of Lancaster representing Labour and Lord Wasserman of Pimlico for the Conservatives, visited the University on 9 October 2014. All of which have extensive experience in policing and criminal justice, gave their thoughts on how to keep our society safe.
The event was hosted by the Institute for Criminology, Forensic Science and Secure Societies. This is an exciting new development bringing together criminologists, forensic scientists, designers, precision engineers, computer scientists, architects and others from across the University to use their subject expertise, knowledge of data sets and research methods to 'think outside the box' and come up with innovative ways to reduce crime.
Delegates, who included Vice-Chancellor Professor Bob Cryan, representatives from the University's seven Schools and the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, joined in a lively discussion about current and future challenges facing the police, criminal justice system and other agencies. Topics discussed included countering terrorism and radicalisation, cybercrime, diversity and public confidence in policing, barriers to data sharing and the importance of technology and forensic science in crime reduction.
There was strong interest in how Huddersfield's excellence in applied research, end user engagement and knowledge transfer can make a real difference in tackling these problems. Referring to the new Institute, Lord Wasserman, who for 12 years was responsible for science and technology in the Home Office, expressed the view that the creation of the Institute is a timely and much-needed development, particularly given the reduced emphasis, in recent years, on forensic science, telecommunications, computing and specialist areas such as Operational Research in the Home Office.
Professor Alex Hirschfield, Director of the University’s Applied Criminology Centre, along with Professor Rachel Armitage and Dr Jason Roach who submitted the successful bid to establish the Institute commented:
"This is just the beginning. We have ambitious plans for holding 'brainstorming' sessions for developing research bids, building an inter-disciplinary PhD student community, running Contining Professional Development (CPD) courses and hosting conferences. We want this to be an Institute for the whole University and the interest shown in the Institute so far, strongly suggests this will be achieved."
