Observation methodology in police research: challenges, innovations and contemporary reflections

Scholars use different methods trying to understand aspects of policing and the police, among which observations such as field-based observations of police officers, systematic social observations and, since the twenty-first century, observations by means of body-worn camera footage, dashcams and even civilian footage. Each observation method comes with specific challenges. This special issue on observation methodology in police research focuses on (current) issues regarding police observational research, such as challenges that may occur when observing police officers, reflexivity, use of covert observations and more recent approaches to police observations such as the use of ethograms. The issue is a collection of six different articles, all of which discuss some pertinent aspects of observational police research. With this special issue, we wish to initiate further discussions on police observational methodology and innovative approaches in this regard. We want to stimulate reflections on these topics and enhance our understanding of police observational methods. We also wish to help police researchers in designing their observational research project and encourage them to set up such projects. After all, observational research on policing is still one of the most important methods to get a grip on different aspects of real-life police work and decision-making.