Leicester establishes partnership with police training college in China

The University has put its name to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Zhejiang Police College, China, that will see the sharing of world-leading expertise in forensic science, traditional police work and more.

The relationship will enable research partnerships between the two institutions and exchange visits for academics and students, whilst encouraging collaboration in areas of mutual interest.

The collaboration will focus around the area of forensic science, specifically, fingerprint enhancement, and what are considered ‘traditional’ policing skills. However, the MoU will also offer opportunities for academics outside of Criminology or forensic science by providing access to Chinese politics, history, culture and policing that might otherwise be difficult to acquire.

Supported by the University’s Research and Enterprise Division, the relationship may also open up funding opportunities to expand the academic and business relationship between the UK and China.

Dr John Bond OBE, from the Department of Criminology, signed the MoU on behalf of the University. Dr Bond invented a novel method of recovering fingerprints from spent brass shell casings, which has been used to provide prosecution evidence in murder trials across the US.  He has continued to invent new ways of recovering fingerprints from ‘difficult’ surfaces and some of these are now in commercial production, used by law enforcement agencies worldwide and have been recognised by international innovation awards.

Zhejiang Police College is located in Hangzhou and is the principal training centre for police officers and the Department of Public Security for Zhejiang Province.  It is also the Chinese organiser of Chinese-EU collaborations.