Different worlds

Abstract

This chapter reflects upon the different types of research, discussing the evolutions in police research in Belgium and beyond. Then, it sketches the relations between police and police research on the one hand and the relations between police research and policy on the other hand. Research on policing has been evolving in multiple directions, starting from the broad, German Polizeiwissenschaft in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, including every type of research that focused on public administration in a broad sense. The police organization and police researchers have long been worlds apart. However, today, the relations between police and researchers have evolved into professional contacts and relatively open communication channels. Today, as the boom in police research is still ongoing, it is probably time that more inventories are made of the bulk of police research that is carried out all over the world.