Why adult development belongs in policing research
Policing depends on more than procedures. Officers and staff interpret incomplete information, manage competing demands, exercise discretion and explain consequential decisions—often under uncertainty, pressure and emotional intensity. The quality of those decisions is shaped partly by what people notice, how they construct a situation and how readily they can examine their own assumptions.
The IAD Policing and Justice Research Collaborative brings adult-development theory into dialogue with established policing research. We are interested in testable questions about awareness, metacognition, decision-making, investigative reasoning, procedural and organisational justice, leadership and culture.
The research team
The collaborative combines theory development, postgraduate research and practice-informed inquiry. Profiles will be expanded as each researcher confirms their preferred biography, role and publications.
Dr Darren Stevens
Darren’s doctoral research provided the foundations for Constructed Development Theory. His work examines awareness, Cognitive Intentions, Dynamic Intelligence and how adults construct choice and response in context. Within this collaborative, he contributes theory, research design and methods support.
David Hill
David’s developing work examines the cognitive skills behind the investigative mindset and considers the UK Police National Decision Model through the lens of CDT. His interests include reasoning under uncertainty, metacognition, bias awareness, ethical judgement and psychologically safe challenge.
Joseph Spears-Smith
Joseph completed Master’s research examining procedural and organisational justice, police legitimacy and Thinking Styles among Lancashire Constabulary employees. His work used a mixed-methods approach to explore conscious awareness, workforce thinking and the delivery of justice in practice.
Gary Stuart
Gary contributes policing experience and practice-informed inquiry to the collaborative. His preferred biography, research interests and current projects will be added once they have been confirmed for publication.
Research questions
Our work is organised around practical questions that can be investigated, compared and challenged.
How do officers construct decisions under pressure?
Examine awareness, discretion, uncertainty and the cognitive capacities needed to use decision frameworks well.
What supports an effective investigative mindset?
Study curiosity, hypothesis testing, cognitive flexibility, source monitoring, metacognition and reflective practice.
What makes fair practice consciously repeatable?
Explore how procedural and organisational justice are understood, enacted and experienced by the workforce and public.
How can policing reduce premature certainty?
Investigate cognitive bias, intellectual humility, disconfirming evidence, team challenge and psychological safety.
How does adult development shape police leadership?
Consider sense-making, accountability, role complexity, organisational culture and leadership response.
What should development, selection and promotion notice?
Examine thinking diversity and developmental capability without reducing people to fixed types or deterministic scores.
Research and project foundations
We distinguish completed academic work from developing papers, proposals and future studies.
Procedural & Organisational Justice, Police Legitimacy and Thinking Styles
Joseph Spears-Smith examined how Lancashire Constabulary employees understood and delivered procedural and organisational justice. The study reported that these concepts were not at the forefront of interviewees’ conscious awareness, while some participants nevertheless delivered them without consciously recognising that they were doing so.
Constructed Development Theory and awareness in the moment
Dr Darren Stevens’ doctoral research established the conceptual and empirical foundations from which CDT developed, including questions about awareness, thinking construction, Dynamic Intelligence and context-dependent response.
The investigative mindset and National Decision Model
David Hill’s current work explores the cognitive skills behind effective investigation and examines the developmental capacities that may be required to use the National Decision Model reflectively, ethically and effectively. Public papers and citations will be listed once their status is confirmed.
A developing policing research programme
The collaborative is seeking partners for projects that can move beyond single-site illustration towards stronger comparison, replication and practical evidence.
Justice and legitimacy across forces
Repeat and extend the completed Master’s study with larger, diverse or multi-force samples and independent analysis.
Using the NDM under real-world conditions
Study how awareness, experience, time pressure and context affect the use and review of structured decisions.
Bias, hypotheses and reflective challenge
Examine safeguards against confirmation bias, anchoring, tunnel vision and group reinforcement.
Leadership, learning and progression
Investigate developmental demands across roles and how training or reflective practice can support greater capability.
Work with the collaborative
We welcome serious conversations with police forces, universities, postgraduate researchers, practitioner-researchers and organisations concerned with justice, investigation, leadership and public legitimacy.
Develop a researchable organisational question
Scope an independent, proportionate study around decision-making, culture, justice, leadership or workforce development.
Build academic and practice partnerships
Connect subject expertise, formal governance and methodological challenge with access to practice-informed questions.
Use, compare or challenge CDT
Access theory guidance, construct clarification and research-development conversations alongside formal university supervision.
Turn experience into disciplined inquiry
Clarify a question, locate relevant evidence and develop an ethically and methodologically defensible proposal.
Research standards and boundaries
Policing research can involve sensitive people, information and power. Collaboration therefore begins with clarity about authority, ethics, data, independence and the status of every claim.
Discuss a policing research question
Tell us the question or problem you want to investigate, your role or institution, the current stage of the work and the contribution you would like from the collaborative. Please do not include operational, case-related, personal or otherwise sensitive information.