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Those attending the event were shown a joint BCU and WMP police film celebrating the partnership and looking ahead to a future collaboration featuring policing student and Special Constable Monica Plesca and ex-BCU student and serving officer Sophie Hopgood.
The aim of the evening was to;
- promote BCU’s investment in senior leadership development at WMP and a new research centre dedicated to policing
- shape and inspire future WMP thinking and strategy by engaging with senior university leaders.
- reinforce our commitment to law and criminal justice
- develop new and deeper partnerships
- explore opportunities coming from our investment in law and criminal justice and for WMP to learn about ground-breaking research.
The Fusion event attracted senior police officers and police representatives from across the West Midlands who joined with alumni, academics, and staff. The event highlighted over 20 years of the BCUs partnership with WMP and sought to better understand the ‘sector-specific professional pain points’ facing the police so we can better develop our support and skills to meet their future needs.
Those attending from WMP included Superintendent Dave Twyford, Student Liaison Officer Fraser Llewellyn, BCU alumni and holder of the Queens Police Medal Rani Gundu and recent graduate PC Sophie Hopgood, now a serving officer with WMP. The event praised the hundreds of students who have joined the force after doing policing and criminology courses at BCU and looked to future collaboration including providing an increased pipeline of graduates, new research opportunities and apprenticeships.
“BCU is extremely proud of its relationship with WMP which stretches back to the time when we were a polytechnic. Today the police face many challenges and as the University for Birmingham we are proud to be working with them on everything from providing many more graduates to looking at the potential of AI through a new Centre for Policing Research”
Pro Vice-Chancellor Eileen McAuliffe
Also speaking at the event was Course Director for MSc Policing and Intelligence Analysis, Ronald Winch, who said;
“I’m extremely proud to have graduated from BCU over thirty years ago and went on to have a really fulfilling career with the Met and WMP. Today it is essential that policing reflects the communities they serve. Through our courses here in both policing and criminology, we put a great emphasis on diversity and inclusion to help equip the next generation of officers to tackle the challenges they will face.”
The evening was summed up by Jo Birch, Director of Innovation, Enterprise and Employability, who said;
“Our relationship with WMP reflects what BCU is all about – collaboration, co-operation and radical openness. Through STEAMhouse we look forward to working with them to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges they face so we can address those issues together to create a more inclusive, innovative and safer city.”
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