Nick Howe
Dr. Howe is the Director of the Institute of Policing at the University of Staffordshire, where he currently leads the development of the Institute as a center of excellence for police education and training, research an innovation within the United Kingdom. Staffordshire University currently oversees the delivery of the Police Educational Qualifications Framework within the wider West Midlands area, encompassing West Midlands, Staffordshire, West Mercia and Warwickshire policing services. Dr. Howe was formerly a police Chief Superintendent within Staffordshire Police between 1979-2009. During his time in the police, as well as being a senior operational police commander, he was heavily engaged with police training and development activities. During his final years of service, he was seconded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary where he worked as a Staff Officer inspecting policing services throughout England and Wales against the backdrop of the then Governments Reform Agenda.
Since 2009 he has worked in higher education, initially at Birmingham City University, where he oversaw police education programs. During 2012 he moved to the University of Derby, appointed Deputy Director of the University's International Policing and Justice Institute and Head of Leadership Education. Finally, Dr. Howe took up his current role as Director of the Institute of Policing at the University of Staffordshire in early 2019 and has developed the Institute into a leading provider of police education, producing many national firsts in educational development within the United Kingdom. In recognition, the Institute and its Regional police partnership were awarded the National Police Chiefs Councils Educational Partnership of the Year 2022. The Institute was also a Winner of the National Apprenticeship Awards (Protective Services) 2024 for its work with the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship and also a National Award Winner for the Pastoral Care Team of the Year in Education 2024.
More broadly, Dr. Howe has been involved with police leadership and broader police educational programs both within the UK and abroad over time, working with the Royal Malaysia Police, Hong Kong Police and with colleagues from the United Arab Emirates, to name but a few.
Dr. Howe serves as an independent academic policing advisor for His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary within the UK and as a specialist advisor for the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation and Academic and Vocational Qualifications. In 2022, Dr. Howe was delighted to accept the prestigious position as Advisor to the Global Consortium of Law Enforcement Training Executives (GC-LETE) based in the United States. He has provided numerous speeches at several international conferences including the annual International Association of Police Academies conference held in Malaysia (2015) and GC-LETE 2022 and 2023. More recently, Dr. Howe was invited to speak in London at an All-Party Parliamentary Group Summit on fraud.
Dr. Howe is an active researcher, a champion of evidence-based policing, and was the former research lead of the 'operational' strand for the East Midland Policing Consortium. His current research is focused upon the delivery of police education, police partnerships and the broader police professionalization agenda. More broadly, Dr. Howe and the Institute of Policing are working closely with the National Police Chiefs Council (UK) to develop research focused upon Serious & Organized Crime to better help inform national policy.
Additionally, Dr. Howe continues to maintain a high-profile media image with both national and local media and is often called upon to provide expert knowledge on policing and police related issues. He is frequently invited to speak at national conferences discussing police recruitment and retention, learning and development and police education provision.