This paper considers the effect of organizational context, alongside wider political factors, on the
ability of police/academic partnerships to ‘deliver’ experimental studies in policing. Comparing
and contrasting across two recent studies, the Making and Breaking Barriers research project on
mounted police, and the Scottish Community Engagement Trial (ScotCET), the paper draws on the
experience of the authors and their police partners in designing, implementing and interpreting the
research, with a particular focus on relational factors and how these shaped the research process.
The mechanics of designing and delivering a policing experiment cannot work without attending
to the nature of police/researcher partnership, the challenges posed by police cultures and other
organizational factors, and the environment within which the study is occurring. There is a strong
need for academic/police partnerships to consider experimental research projects within their
wider social, economic and political contexts.