The findings are incorporated into the evaluation, analysis and situation report of the North Rhine-Westphalian police. They form an important basis for decisions on crime policy and strategy. The focus here is on practical issues. The results should be of practical use to the police and help them to fulfill their tasks. However, they must also meet the standards of scientific work.
The interdisciplinary team at the KKF is made up of 13 members of staff. Scientists from the fields of psychology, sociology, market and social research, data science, geography and computer science work here, as well as police officers. The latter usually have an additional academic qualification, e.g. in psychology or criminology.
Networking
The KKF is involved in various internal and external (scientific) networks. One of these is the network Criminology in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is made up of academics from universities, universities of applied sciences, the police and the judiciary. Independently of this network, the KKF works regularly with colleges and universities. In addition, employees are regularly represented at scientific and police conferences.
Furthermore, the KKF is networked with academic experts from the North Rhine-Westphalia University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration, the North Rhine-Westphalia State Office for Central Police Services and the North Rhine-Westphalia State Office for Police Training, Further Training and Personnel Affairs. As part of individual projects, it works together with colleagues from different areas of work within the LKA NRW and the North Rhine-Westphalian police authorities. The KKF also represents the LKA NRW and the NRW police in state and nationwide police working/project groups.
Background
The State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia (LKA NRW) established the Criminalistic-Criminological Research Center (KKF for short) back in 2002. The Act to Amend the Police Organization Act and to Amend Other Regulations on the Organization of the Police of 29 March 2007 finally made criminalistic-criminological research a statutory task of the LKA NRW (Section 13 (2) No. 4 POG NRW).
The KKF is a sub-department within Department 32 of the "Strategic Crime Prevention" division of the LKA NRW. This department also includes the areas of "Prevention of youth, violent and drug-related crime and victim protection", "Technical prevention and prevention of property crime", "Central evaluation (ZEVA)" and "Police crime statistics (PKS)".