Plaudits from Poland for criminologist

RESEARCH by a University of Huddersfield PhD student that focuses on the most effective methods of dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour among young people was heard by law enforcement officials from across Europe when it was included as part of a multi-national training course on juvenile crime and domestic violence.

Criminology researcher Monika Baylis was personally invited by the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) to deliver her research as part of a five-day training programme hosted by Poland’s Police Academy located in north-eastern Poland, in the city of Szczytno.

The Academy leads research on policing in Poland and also hosts a variety of courses for law enforcement officials from across Europe to attend and learn from developments in the profession outside of their own countries.

Monika’s comparative study entitled Policing of Anti-Social Behaviour and youth crime in the UK, was delivered to  representatives of the Police, Prosecutor's Office, Courts and Ministries of Justice from a range of European nations including, Greece, Finland, Poland, Spain and Sweden.  She discussed and answered questions surrounding current legislations and methods of policing anti-social behaviour in the UK and explained the importance of a partnership approach when working with young people.

Feedback from delegates on the course was so impressive that Monika has now been registered by CEPOL as an official trainer, which Monika explains is a huge accolade to achieve amidst her doctoral research.

Policing Poland

Shortly before accepting the CEPOL invite, Monika had already agreed to be a guest speaker at a second conference, again in Poland, entitled Post-1989 Transformation of the Polish Police. 

The event, which involved Monika making a 200-mile round trip, took place at the Collegium Civitas, in Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science and was a joint event organised by the Collegium Civitas’ Centre for Research on Social and Economic Risks and the University of Warsaw’s Institute of Political Science.

“The conference had not taken place since the 1990’s because of political and economic factors,” she said.  “This made the honour of speaking there very special and because both events were in the same week.  Although it involved a lot of travelling, I was able to agree to both.”

Her talk entitled Post-1989 Polish Police – when the devil is in the detail, described the changes experienced by Polish Police over the last 30 years and as the conference came to close she was approached by a representative of the Main Headquarters of Polish Police to write an article featuring aspects of her research for their national police publication Policja 997.  The magazine is widely distributed among different police units across Poland as well as being disseminated throughout the Polish Ministry of Justice.

Monika Baylis, who is multilingual and left Poland as a child, explained how criminology is a relatively new area of research in Poland and there is a current drive to modernise its system of policing, which she hopes will lead to further invitations to return to the country and share her research.

In the meantime, she is now working hard to complete her PhD which is being supervised by the University’s Professor Rachel Armitage. 

“Professor Armitage has supported me throughout my trip to Poland, for which I am extremely grateful.

“Taking part in conferences has been a great opportunity for me to network with academics relating to my field of expertise.  I have developed many new contacts and encourage all postgraduate researchers to do the same.”