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Article by Professor Barak Ariel - Director of the MSt in Applied Criminology and Police Management (also known as the Police Executive Programme) and Professor Manuel Eisner - Director of the Institute of Criminology
MSt in Applied Criminology and Police Management 1996 - 2026
Since the Institute’s establishment in 1959 — the first criminological institute at any UK university — building bridges between research and practice has remained a central pillar of our activities.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of our Master of Studies in Applied Criminology and Police Management, also known as the Police Executive Programme.
Introduced in 1996 by Professor Sir Anthony Bottoms — Director of the Institute at the time -- it enables professionals from around the world to apply criminological theory and research to modern-day policing.
In its 30 years, the MSt has supported the professional development of more than 800 police professionals. In turn, our discipline has been much enriched by their significant contributions to scholarship and practice.
As well as going on to hold senior leadership positions within the police, many MSt graduates have pursued further academic study with the Institute or elsewhere, and have subsequently contributed to the teaching and delivery of the programme.
The development of evidence-based policing, the continual exploration of the applications and impacts of emerging technologies in security, and the opportunities for international forces to connect and share knowledge have all been enabled by both the programme’s teachers and students.
Looking ahead, the programme is entering its fourth decade at a moment of profound change for policing. The challenges our students now bring to Cambridge — the governance of artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision-making, cyber-enabled and transnational crime, the ethical use of biometric and predictive tools and the enduring questions of legitimacy, trust and community relations — demand the same commitment to rigour and evidence that shaped the MSt in 1996. Our ambition for the years ahead is to deepen that commitment: to sharpen the programme’s engagement with new policing paradigms and the data they generate, to widen the international network of scholars and practitioners it convenes, and to keep producing research that shapes policy and practice on the ground.
None of this would be possible without the extraordinary staff who have taught and supervised across these thirty years, the students who have brought their operational wisdom into every seminar room, and the alumni who carry the work into forces and ministries around the world. To all of them: thank you. The next thirty years begin with you.
Read our other related articles
- Voices from our Alumni: Hear what some of our former students said about the programme. Read the article.
- Dr Heather Strang reflects on her involvement in the programme including as Programme Director (2012-2019). Read the article.
- Professor Sir Anthony Bottoms reflects on the programme's formative years and the enduring relationships it has fostered between academia and the police service. Read the article.
- Professor Lawrence Sherman - who directed the programme from 2007 until 2014 - explores how the MSt was instrumental in developing the key tenets and research methods of evidence-based policing. Under his successors, Dr Heather Strang, Dr Peter Neyroud, and today Professor Barak Ariel, the programme has continued to grow in scope, reach and ambition. Read the article.