Brendan Brookshaw

• PhD at Plymouth University’s School of Criminology, Law and Governance. The PhD is an ethnographic examination of police attitudes towards corrupt or improper practice by police officers.
• Currently Lecturer in Professional Policing and Criminology at the University of Plymouth.
• Former Associate lecturer in Public Service Management degree at City College Plymouth, Module lead for “Ethical Decision Making” and “Conflict and Cohesion”.
• Formerly with ASAS Business Solutions delivering leadership and governance training and coaching to Public third and private sector organisations.
• Former Police Complaints Review Officer for the Devon and Cornwall Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner
• 30 year police career (see below)

Qualifications

• PhD in criminology specializing in police corruption issues 
• Post Graduate Diploma in Academic Practice.
  
• September 2018: Retired from the Devon & Cornwall Police as a Detective Chief Inspector after 30 years active service. Held several leadership positions in the police after promotion to Sergeant in 1997. I have the following experience from my police service
• 14 years at the rank of Chief Inspector and Temporary Superintendent.
• 4 years Senior Investigating Officer experience as a Detective Chief Inspector and Temporary Detective Superintendent in the field of police misconduct and counter corruption.
• 10 years command experience in tactical firearms, nuclear emergency, public order, major public events and civil emergency matters successfully resolving over 200 pre-planned and spontaneous firearms incidents and over 150 public events as well as chairing multi-agency Silver groups in response to flooding and other severe weather events.
• I was part of her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s Legitimacy Inspection team in 2014 as the Professional Standards specialist and a national steering group member and co-author of the UK’s Equality Standard for the Police Service published in 2009
  
• Trained and lead Regional multi-agency partners in the management of major Incidents, assessing and accrediting regional firearms and public order commanders.
• Gained executive leadership experience as Staff Officer to two Chief Constables
• Head of Equality and Diversity and Force Strategic Partnerships developed my unique insights into police culture, politics, role and structure of the police in the UK alongside other public agencies.
• Achieved international experience in law enforcement legitimacy issues as the sole UK representative at the 2016 European College of Policing counter corruption conference and shared this learning by presenting at the National Police Legitimacy Conference in September 2016.
• Received a Masters Degree in Public Administration in 2007.
  
• BSC (Hons) Bioanlalytical Science 1988

Professional membership

Member of the Institute of Leadership and Management since 1997

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy  

Roles on external bodies

School Governor 2000 - 2013 providing strategic direction as Vice Chair of Governors at Widey Court School Plymouth. 4 years, link Governor to the LEA and chair of the curriculum and personnel committees. 2007 chair of the Standards Committee at Notre Dame Roman Catholic School and led the selection processes for Head Teachers at both schools. Became member of the Executive Committee of the Plymouth Association of Governors in 2009 and served on the Local Authority Standing Advisory Committee for Religious Education and School Admissions Committee. Attended several Governors Training Courses and National Governors Association Conferences.

Fully trained and experienced coach, project manager and facilitator of Action Learning Sets and attended the Tavistock Institute Leicester conference in 2007, where I developed skills in understanding the authority, roles and functions associated with group dynamics.

I am a voluntary mentor for the University Mentoring Scheme 

Teaching interests

I have been lecturing in higher education institutions since 2017, most recently taking up a full time role as a a lecturer in professional policing and criminology at the University of Plymouth where I designed the Professional Policing Degree programme which is accredited by the College of Policing. Course: BSc (Hons) Professional Policing (7191) (plymouth.ac.uk)

Throughout my working life I have felt a great sense of public duty and social purpose, putting others first, and am keen to employ my skills and experience in an environment like Plymouth University which provides such a fundamentally important resource in the City of my birth.

I researched my PhD on internal attitudes to police corruption and therefore enjoy teaching ethics, Leadership and the skills involved in quick time critical incident management as well as the more 

I am a voluntary mentor for the University Mentoring Scheme

I have delivered leadership and governance training and coaching to Public, third and private sector organisations through ASAS Business Solutions.

Research interests

My PhD thesis can be read here WHAT HAPPENED WITHIN THE POLICE SERVICE WHEN THE GOVERNMENT CREATED THE OFFENCE OF “CORRUPT OR IMPROPER PRACTICE” IN SECTION 26 OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND COURTS ACT 2015? (plymouth.ac.uk)

Abstract 

Title. What happened within the police service when the government created the offence of “Corrupt or Improper Practice” in section 26 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015? 

• Author Brendan P. Brookshaw 

• Purpose. This PhD thesis offers explanations for the way in which the offence of Corrupt or Improper Practice by police officers was implemented within the service and is analysed through a framework of the psychology, ethics, and management of implementation. Using autoethnographic data as policing parables, it explores stories of police misconduct and suggests theoretical underpinnings for the drivers of corruption and how the police may react to it. 

• Design/methodology/approach. This research is an autoethnographic examination of the author’s last two years as a serving police officer leading the Professional Standards Department of a large rural UK police force. The data consists of reflections on the emotional and philosophical impact on the author created by day-to-day interactions with police officers recorded in personal journals. 

• Findings. The paper offers the new concepts of The Honest Cop Belief, the Ethical Trihedral, and Hyper-Procedural Pseudo-Compliance which are presented through an encompassing model of policing implementation named the Triangle of Kakistocracy. This model is offered as an original theoretical lens for other researchers to consider when examining the workings of the police. It discusses organisational and personal arrogance arising from the psychological impact on officers of ingrained cultural icons such as the Blue Wall of Silence. The Ethical Trihedral is presented as a model for analysing ethical incompetence in the police which is the suggested outcome of tension arising from conflicting philosophical paradigms. The impact of neoliberal managerialism in liquid modernity is examined to offer explanations for perceived moral cowardice in police managerial decision making which takes the form of hyper-procedural pseudo-compliance. 

• Originality/value. Autoethnographic insider-research on police corruption is rare in the literature. Public trust and consent are vital to the British policing model, so divining esoteric police attitudes towards the harms perpetrated by abuses of their power is increasingly valuable in understanding police/public relationships. 

• Keywords. Autoethnography, corruption, police, implementation, culture, ethics, management Paper type. PhD Thesis

Other research

In 2020 as part of a multi-disciplinary team at the University of Plymouth, developed online crime scene teaching scenarios an a virtual reality crime scene as part of expanding resources that could be used at a distance during the covid 19 epidemic. These replace the existing immersive and real-time crime scene scenarios developed with the module leader since 2018 and which have become a unique aspect of criminology at Plymouth University. Home - Operation Tandem - Home (plymouth.ac.uk)

Internet Publications

https://dspace.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/20743 

PhD WHAT HAPPENED WITHIN THE POLICE SERVICE WHEN THE GOVERNMENT CREATED THE OFFENCE OF “CORRUPT OR IMPROPER PRACTICE” IN SECTION 26 OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND COURTS ACT 2015? (plymouth.ac.uk) Title. What happened within the police service when the government created the offence of “Corrupt or Improper Practice” in section 26 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015? • Author Brendan P. Brookshaw • Purpose. This PhD thesis offers explanations for the way in which the offence of Corrupt or Improper Practice by police officers was implemented within the service and is analysed through a framework of the psychology, ethics, and management of implementation. Using autoethnographic data as policing parables, it explores stories of police misconduct and suggests theoretical underpinnings for the drivers of corruption and how the police may react to it. • Design/methodology/approach. This research is an autoethnographic examination of the author’s last two years as a serving police officer leading the Professional Standards Department of a large rural UK police force. The data consists of reflections on the emotional and philosophical impact on the author created by day-to-day interactions with police officers recorded in personal journals. • Findings. The paper offers the new concepts of The Honest Cop Belief, the Ethical Trihedral, and Hyper-Procedural Pseudo-Compliance which are presented through an encompassing model of policing implementation named the Triangle of Kakistocracy. This model is offered as an original theoretical lens for other researchers to consider when examining the workings of the police. It discusses organisational and personal arrogance arising from the psychological impact on officers of ingrained cultural icons such as the Blue Wall of Silence. The Ethical Trihedral is presented as a model for analysing ethical incompetence in the police which is the suggested outcome of tension arising from conflicting philosophical paradigms. The impact of neoliberal managerialism in liquid modernity is examined to offer explanations for perceived moral cowardice in police managerial decision making which takes the form of hyper-procedural pseudo-compliance. • Originality/value. Autoethnographic insider-research on police corruption is rare in the literature. Public trust and consent are vital to the British policing model, so divining esoteric police attitudes towards the harms perpetrated by abuses of their power is increasingly valuable in understanding police/public relationships. • Keywords. Autoethnography, corruption, police, implementation, culture, ethics, management Paper type. PhD Thesis http://https:http//dspace.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/20743

Reports & invited lectures

Conference Contributions – Refereed Faculty of Business 14th Doctoral Conference 2019. Submitted Literature Review paper on police corruption and won the Lit Review Prize. At the same conference I presented on the challenges of adopting an autoethnographic methodology for my PhD entitled “Diversity in the Research Environment” and answered questions from the audience and discussant

Other academic activities

Conference Contributions – Other 

City College Plymouth Higher Education Research festival 2020 Presented a TED style talk to live audience and streamed online on the ethics associated with autoethnographic insider research on a closed police culture. Also displayed research poster. 

Plymouth University Post Graduate Research Conference 2019 Presented an academic poster on my PhD research for discussion and feedback 

Economic and Social Research Council Festival of Social Science 2019 Presented an updated academic poster on my PhD research for discussion and feedback 

University of the West of England 2nd National Conference on Organised Crime 2019 Presented an academic poster on my PhD research for discussion and feedback 

City College Plymouth Higher Education Research festival 2019 Presented a TED-style talk to live audience and streamed online on my PhD research question. Also displayed research poster 

Achieved international experience in law enforcement legitimacy issues as the sole UK representative at the 2016 European College of Policing counter corruption conference and shared this learning by presenting at the CAPITA National Police Legitimacy Conference in September 2016

Co-Chaired the 2015 CAPITA National Conference on Police Integrity with Lord Carlile CBE QC, Chair of the London Policing Ethics Panel.