Andrew Wooff
Andrew Wooff

Dr Andrew Wooff

Associate Professor

 0131 455 3352

  A.Wooff@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

I am an Associate Professor of Criminology at Edinburgh Napier University and the Head of Social Sciences and former Programme Leader for BSc (Hons) Policing and Criminology.

I am currently working on 2 externally funded COVID-19 focused pieces of research: the first (PI, SFC funded, £44k) is examining the pluralised policing responses to the pandemic in Scotland. The second (Co-I, ESRC funded, £36k) explores local authority partnership responses to the pandemic.

I have published on a number of topics, including police custody, rural policing, vulnerability and volunteering in the police. I have recently published in the Journal of Rural Studies, Policing Journal, Policing and Society, Punishment and Society, European Journal of Criminology and Policing: A journal of policy and practice .

In the past 5 years, I have completed 3 externally funded projects as PI (totalling £33,000), the most recent of which examined the Special Constabulary in Scotland. I have also been Co-I on a further 3 projects (totalling £308,800). As a result of my research and publications, I have been invited to sit on the Home Office Custody Review Design Board, the editorial board for two book series and the international advisory panel for a research project at the University of Sheffield. I am also the co-lead for the Education and Leadership network within the Scottish Institute of Policing Research (SIPR) and I am a member of the British Society of Criminology. I currently supervise 4 PhD students, on who has just completed his corrections.

My research interests are varied and interdisciplinary, informed by extending theoretical developments in criminology, geography and rural sociology. I am interested in how the police use their power in different ways and on different populations, particularly in relation to rural policing, police custody, and the use of police volunteers.

Prior to joining Edinburgh Napier University in 2015, I completed my PhD in 2014 under the supervision of Professor Nick Fyfe at the University of Dundee. This focused on anti-social behaviour in rural Scotland. During my PhD I was seconded into the Police Reform team where I completed research on partnership working. I subsequently completed a Post-Doc at the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Sheffield, funded by the ESRC, which explored police custody in England and Wales.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Appointed to the British Society of Criminology Policing Network as National Lead for the ‘Policing Research into Teaching’ portfolio
  • International Research Advisory Group: Good Police Custody Implementation Board, meets quarterly
  • Invited to give evidence to Scottish Parliament Rural Affairs Select Committee, 06/03/2018
  • Academic advisor to the Home Office National Police Custody Design Board, meets quarterly
  • Independent Assurance Group for Police Scotland Custody
  • Invited expert on rural crime, Scottish Government Cross Party Group on rural Policy, 24/02/2016

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Invited Panel member: Law Enforcement Public Health Conference
  • Invited to be panel chair: American Society of Criminology annual conference, 11/2019
  • Police education and professionalisation: Critical international perspectives
  • Panel organiser and Chair at ESC: Conditions of Police Custody in England and Wales
  • Panel member: EUPST II conference
  • Invited presentation to Scandinavian delegation: Professionalising the police: The Scottish experience
  • Invited speaker: Canterbury Christchurch University annual conference
  • Carceral geographies conference: The role of space, place and emotions in police custody
  • Panel Chair: European Society of Criminology: Police custody in rural Scotland
  • Panel Chair: The role of emotion, space and place in Police Custody, The European Society of Criminology, 01/09/15
  • Invited discussant: Outsourcing in custody: Preliminary reflections on the good police custody study – Presented at the ESRC Markets in Policing Seminar Series, University of York, 09/06/15

 

Editorial Activity

  • Editorial board: Palgrave Critical studies in policing book series
  • Editorial Board: Bristol University Press 'Rural Crime book series'

 

External Examining/Validations

  • Invited External Examiner: Canterbury Christchurch University
  • External Examiner, University of Chester

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

 

Grant Reviewer

  • Review for the 2019 COALESCE Irish Research Council call

 

Invited Speaker

  • SIPR annual conference: The Conditions of Police Custody and the importance of 'good' design
  • Invited talk to Scandinavian delegation: Police professionalisation in Scotland
  • George Mason University: Police Education in Scotland
  • Invited participant: Knowledge exchange and police professionalisation
  • Invited presentation to the National Custody Forum
  • Invited presentation: Treading the front line: Tartanization and police academic partnerships
  • Fully paid invitation to speak in Stockholm at Rural Studies Conference after publishing my paper in the Journal of Rural Studies, 09/2014
  • Policing anti-social behaviour in rural Scotland – Space, Society Research Group, School of the Environment, Dundee, Scotland, 16/12/2011
  • Chair: Lothian and Borders Criminal Justice Authority on Electronic Monitoring, 17/02/16
  • Beyond the thin blue line: The everyday impacts of ASB – Presented at RGS-IBG conference, 28/08/13
  • Policing territoriality in rural Scotland: Applying a normative approach to understanding some of the challenges of rural policing – RGS-IBG annual conference, Edinburgh, 31/08/12
  • Policing vulnerability? The impact and implication of No Cold Calling Zones in Angus – Presentation for Trading Standards, Angus, 06/09/2010
  • A snapshot of ASB in Scotland – Presentation to Chinese Police Officer Delegation, Edinburgh, 22/05/12
  • Invited talk: Preliminary findings on police custody delivery in England and Wales in the 21st century: Is it ‘good’ enough? – Presented at the Dundee Policing and Criminal Justice seminar group, 30/1/14
  • Police custody in the 21st Century: Is it ‘good’ or ‘good enough’? – Presented to the National Custody Forum, Police Federation, Stoke on Trent, 23/09/14
  • Partnership working within Police Scotland – Presented to Senior Management Team, Police Scotland, 12/12/12
  • Invited talk: Policing ASB in rural Scotland: The importance of context – Presented at the International Policing Conference, Tulliallan, 20/10/14
  • Discretion in Police Custody – Presented at the British Society of Criminology conference, 11/07/14
  • The policing of insecurity: Policing places, policing people– Co-convener of session at RGS-IBG annual conference, Edinburgh, 31/08/12
  • Relationships and Responses: Policing ASB in rural Scotland – Presented at Symposium on Rural Crime in Sockholm, Sweden, 17/09/14

 

Media Activity

  • Various media outlet coverage of Special Constable training programme (The Metro/ Edinburgh Evening News) on 29/04/20
  • Edinburgh Evening Telegraph interviews (various)
  • Invited participant: French national radio discussion on artificial intelligence, 10/07/2018
  • Wired Magazine Interview: Uk police are using AI to make custodial decisions, 01/03/2018
  • Invited participant: BBC Scotland John Beattie Show, 18/05/2018
  • Interviewed for "Quality Magazine", 02/10/2018
  • Scotsman article: Country cops could teach city cops a lesson, 29/06/2017

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • British Society of Criminology
  • Deputy Chair, Sheffield University Policing Research Group
  • Associate member: Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
  • Interim co-Lead, Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) Education and Leadership network
  • Scottish Institute of Policing Research

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Law Enforcement Public Health Stakeholder Engagement event
  • Lothians Criminal Justice Forum: Chair
  • Invited presentation to stakeholders: College of Policing 'Market of Ideas'

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External Examiner: Canterbury Christchurch University

 

Reviewing

  • Peer Reviewer for multiple journals (British Journal of Criminology, Theoretical Criminology, Policing and Society, Policing: A journal of policy and practice, European journal of Criminology, Punishment and Society, Policing: An international journal of strategies and management

 

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34 results

'I Feel Trapped': The Role Of The Cell In The Embodied And Everyday Practices Of Police Custody

Book Chapter
Wooff, A. (2020)
'I Feel Trapped': The Role Of The Cell In The Embodied And Everyday Practices Of Police Custody. In V. Knight, & J. Turner (Eds.), The Prison Cell: Embodied and Everyday Spaces of Incarceration (95-118). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39911-5
This chapter explores the police custody cell from the perspective of policing staff. Legally it is the cornerstone of the criminal investigation process, being the place wher...

Co-creation of five key research priorities across Law Enforcement and Public Health: A methodological example

Journal Article
Murray, J., Heyman, I., Dougall, N., Wooff, A., Aston, E., & Enang, I. (2021)
Co-creation of five key research priorities across Law Enforcement and Public Health: A methodological example. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 28(1), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12664
Introduction Law enforcement professions now assume more responsibility for tackling mental health issues alongside public health colleagues than ever before. The term ‘vulner...

The special constable in Scotland: understanding the motivations, expectations and the role of the special constabulary within Police Scotland

Report
Wooff, A., Dickson, G., & Buchan, J. (2020)
The special constable in Scotland: understanding the motivations, expectations and the role of the special constabulary within Police Scotland. Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR
This project sought to examine the nature of the Special Constabulary as a volunteering resource in Scotland, considering the way(s) that the motivations, expectations and man...

Pain in police detention: A critical point in the 'penal painscape'?

Journal Article
Skinns, L., & Wooff, A. (2021)
Pain in police detention: A critical point in the 'penal painscape'?. Policing and Society, 31(3), 245-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2019.1706506
In this paper, we analyse pain in police detention and the extent to which Sykes’ pains of imprisonment framework usefully informs this. This analysis is based on extensive in...

Co-creation of value: Understanding the assessment of vulnerability across Law Enforcement and Public Health

Report
Murray, J., Heyman, I., Wooff, A., Dougall, N., Aston, L., & Enang, I. (2019)
Co-creation of value: Understanding the assessment of vulnerability across Law Enforcement and Public Health. Scottish Institute for Policing Research
As police contact has and continues to increase with people who are considered vulnerable, it is essential to establish a better understanding of what it means for a person to...

Defining and Assessing vulnerability within law enforcement and public health organisations: A scoping review.

Journal Article
Enang, I., Murray, J., Dougall, N., Wooff, A., Heyman, I., & Aston, E. (2019)
Defining and Assessing vulnerability within law enforcement and public health organisations: A scoping review. Health and Justice, 7(2), https://doi.org/10.1186/s40352-019-0083-z
Historically, police departments focused solely on criminal justice issues. Recently, there has been a dynamic shift in focus, with Law Enforcement professional groups assumin...

Defining and Assessing Vulnerability: Perspectives across Law Enforcement and Public Health (LEPH)

Presentation / Conference
Murray, J., Enang, I., Dougall, N., Wooff, A., Aston, E., & Heyman, I. (2019, January)
Defining and Assessing Vulnerability: Perspectives across Law Enforcement and Public Health (LEPH). Paper presented at 4th PUBSIC (Innovation in Public Services and Public Policy) Conference
Law enforcement has traditionally been considered to focus mainly on criminal justice issues. However, over the past decade, there has been a dynamic shift in focus, with law ...

Law enforcement and public health: setting the research agenda for Scotland .

Report
Murray, J., Heyman, I., Wooff, A., Dougall, N., Aston, L., & Enang, I. (2018)
Law enforcement and public health: setting the research agenda for Scotland . Dundee: Scottish Institute for Policing Research
Police Scotland’s contact with people with vulnerability and health problems has been increasing year-on-year, with significant costs and unknown outcomes associated. This is ...

Treading the front-line: Tartanisation and Police Academic Partnerships

Journal Article
Martin, D., & Wooff, A. (2020)
Treading the front-line: Tartanisation and Police Academic Partnerships. Policing, 14(2), 325-336. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pay065
Recognized as an International Leader in the development of Police Academic Collaborations, the Scottish Institute of Police Research has had a key role in contributing to evi...

The role of emotion, space and place in police custody in England: Towards a geography of police custody

Journal Article
Wooff, A., & Skinns, L. (2017)
The role of emotion, space and place in police custody in England: Towards a geography of police custody. Punishment and Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474517722176
Police custody is a complex environment, where police officers, detainees and other staff interact in a number of different emotional, spatial and transformative ways. Utilisi...

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • Deputy Chair: Sheffield University Policing Research Group
  • ESRC PhD Funding: Space, Place and the Policing of Anti-social Behaviour in Scotland

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects

Non-Napier PhD or MSc by Research supervisions

  • PhD supervisor to Andy Tatnell at University of West of Scotland: The role of higher education and police professionalisation