The relationship between police practitioners and researchers has been described as a ‘dialogue of
the deaf’ (MacDonald in Bradley, 2005), a ‘dialogue of the listening’ (Johnston & Shearing, 2009)
or a ‘dialogue of the hard-of-hearing’ (Bronitt, 2013). Relying on their experiences into research on,
for, by and with the police in the last decade, Easton & De Vlieger recount their Belgian reflections
on these dialogues. Their experiences in the research related to these partnerships are described
and the key barriers and essential enablers for nurturing these partnerships discussed.