Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser
The Chief Scientific Adviser’s (CSA) office is a new unit within the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and is led by the Policing Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA), Professor Paul Taylor. The CSA oversees policing's use of science and technology, ensuring it guides NPCC’s critical strategies, policies and decisions, helping police to protect millions of people and reduce crime.
If you wish to learn more about Science and Technology in Policing please visit the home of policing science and technology.
The team promotes and uses emerging evidence, research and innovation in science and technology, including in both data and behavioural science, to advise policing on both the opportunities and risks to help reduce crime.
Independent, expert, scientific advice will be provided to the sector as a whole, including the College of Policing, the National Crime Agency, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, individual constabularies and government ministers.
The team's objectives are:
- To connect science and technology expertise both in the UK and globally to keep policing at the forefront of best practice.
- To develop a science and technology strategy for policing, bringing coherence to our landscape and accelerating progress.
- To provide insight and solutions across policing, the criminal justice system and government with the aim of transforming the prevention and reduction of crime.
- To represent policing in the government's Chief Scientific Network, identifying cross-department opportunities and ensuring policing priorities are represented.
Professor Paul Taylor was appointed as the first National Policing Chief Scientific Adviser in May 2021. The Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser focuses on crime prevention and uses emerging evidence, research and innovation in science and technology, including in both data and behavioural science, to advise policing on both the opportunities and risks to help reduce crime.
Paul Taylor is Professor of Psychology at Lancaster University, Professor of Human Interaction at the University of Twente, and director of the UK Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST).
Established in 2015, CREST has brought together over 140 researchers from 35 universities and SMEs to deliver research that informs policy and practice in security and policing.
Before this, Professor Taylor established Lancaster’s Institute for security research, leading staff and students from 10 departments and growing an interdisciplinary strength that still defines the Institute’s contribution today.
Professor Taylor’s research uses modelling and experimentation to understand and predict human cooperation and violence. Its implications have helped in the prevention of serious crime, the negotiation of hostage crises, and the use of data in national security.
Over his career Professor Taylor has contributed science advice to a number of high profile police investigations in the UK and overseas. In 2005 he received a Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner Commendation for his contributions.
