Edinburgh Napier University

  Over the last decade, police custody has seen a resurgence of scholarly interest. This chapter maps the contours of this burgeoning field, critically examining the data collection methods that researchers typically use, including observation, interviews, surveys and secondary analysis of custody records, as well as some of the ethical challenges that arise as a result. It also examines the methodologies underpinning this research, such as ethnography, the mixed-methods research paradigm and appreciative inquiry. The chapter also scopes out innovation in police custody research of the future. Drawing on the allied field of prison studies, we critically examine the potential of creative methodologies, such as photo elicitation, and sensory approaches, which combine visual and aural data collection, to enrich existing understandings of staff and detainee experiences. We conclude that police custody research is in a healthy state, methodologically-speaking, and the future looks bright for scholars seeking to join the field, with this chapter hopefully providing a ‘road map’ for those that do.