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Professor David Canter shares expertise with Hong Kong Police

Professor delivering lecture to audience

The Hong Kong Police force invited Professor David Canter to share his expertise on Investigative Psychology at a conference on Psychology and Criminal Investigation.

Professor Canter, who is a Visiting Professor in Psychology at Liverpool Hope, has spent 25 years developing the new discipline of Investigative Psychology and has published widely on the topic.

Modelled on the British Police force and with a similar legal system to the UK, the Hong Kong Police has introduced a unique Clinical Psychology Unit.

The Unit is becoming increasingly involved in contributing to investigations, which prompted Professor Canter to be invited as a leading world-expert on the topic.

Talking about his keynote speech, Professor Canter said: “I reviewed the development of Investigative Psychology from my early involvement in a major enquiry into a series of rapes and murders in London in 1986.

“This included examples of the major areas of research that cover obtaining and managing effective investigative information, making inferences about offenders from crime scenes - offender profiling - and the support of detective decision making especially around my work on geographical offender profiling."

The Hong Kong Police forces’ Criminal Psychology Unit has historically been involved in counselling and helping members of the force cope with the trauma of their jobs. However, it is increasingly being called on to give guidance to police investigations, leading to a need to develop research activity and skills.


Published on 14/12/2018