Towards reflexivity in police practice and research

Abstract

In their recent article, Bennell et al. (2021) address the ongoing series of critical incidents within law enforcement across the globe and the amplified public debate that ensured. The team of renowned international police scholars and practitioners intend to ‘provide insights into the fundamental issues related to police use of force’ (Bennell et al., 2021, p. 1) and work out what they perceive to be ‘urgent issues and prospects (p. 1)’. Since the author's proposal is likely to influence future debates, we feel warrants that foremost the issue on how the issue of urgency is handled in the paper at hand deserves scientific attention. While Bennell et al. (2021) emphasize the importance of evidence-based policing for the further professionalization of policing, we advocate for reflexivity in modern police practice and research. Reflexivity calls for the analysis on preconditions and consequences of scientific perspectives themselves, thus touching issues of evidence of evidence.