Professor Adam Crawford, Co-Director of the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre, has shared the Centre’s research at leading conferences and workshops in a scholarly visit to Australia.
12 December 2025
Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Conference
A key part of Professor Crawford’s trip was presenting at the annual Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC) conference in Brisbane. Here he presented a paper, “Should I call the police? Exploring public views on responses to incidents involving vulnerable people”, in a session on police–citizen interactions.
The talk drew on findings from the Centre’s Towards a Minimum Policing Standard project, with the paper having recently been accepted for publication in the British Journal of Criminology.
Professor Crawford also contributed to two expert roundtables:
- Policing Thematic Group: Reflections and Future Directions, chaired by Dr Elise Sargeant and Kelly Hine.
- The Institutionalisation of the Relationship Between Police & Academia, chaired by Dr Tyler Cawhray.
Both discussions explored how research partnerships can shape policing practice and policy, reinforcing the Centre’s commitment to collaborative knowledge exchange.
Workshop on Minimum Policing Standards
As part of his visit, Professor Crawford also presented at the Police Minimum Standards Workshop hosted by the Adaptive Policing Lab at the Australian National University (ANU), in partnership with TILES (University of Tasmania). Professor Crawford’s talk examined public expectations of policing, and why the public choose to call the police (or not) in incidents involving people with vulnerabilities, drawing on research from the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre.
The workshop brought together Australian Federal Police representatives and leading researchers to tackle complex challenges such as cybercrime, retail theft, and resource constraints. Discussions highlighted the need for adaptive policing strategies and multi-agency approaches to address systemic issues.
Professor Adam Crawford said: “This visit was a fantastic opportunity to share the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre’s research internationally and learn from colleagues tackling similar challenges in different contexts. Strengthening these global collaborations is vital for shaping evidence-based approaches to vulnerability and policing.”