Vince Hurley (PhD) is a university lecturer specialising on the contemporary role of the police and policing within criminological theories. He also lectures on Crisis Management and Disaster Relief.

Before joining the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University Vince spent 29 years as an operational police officer in the New South Wales Police Force achieving the rank of Detective Superintendent.

Whilst in the NSW Police Force he was seconded to the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet engineering statewide crime reduction policy and then implementing the same specialising in reducing the prevalence of domestic violence. Because of this work he was awarded a number of national and State awards by Australian Institute of Criminology and NSW Parliament.  He was Police Hostage Negotiator for 8 years and investigated drug trafficking into NSW and nationally for 5 years. He worked both in uniform 'street policing' at Mount Druitt, Penrith, St. Marys and Blacktown. He was also a Detecitve at Mount Druitt and Penrith investigating local serious crimes of domestic homicides, sexual assaults and serious (non-sexual) assaults, home invasions and local drug distribution, amongst other local crimes.

As an experienced industry practitioner, Vince key strength is being able to demonstrate the pragmatic role of the police and policing to academic theory. His area of specialisation the implications of financialisation on policing practice, domestic violence, crisis management, hostage negotiation and police use of force.

Vince’s PhD was into the Financialisation of Policing in the UK from 2010 – 2020. He drew on the theoretical work of Foucault, O’Malley, Freud, North, Dean and neoliberalism (Thatcherism).

Vince has

PhD;  Masters, Business Administration; Bachelor, Criminology & Psychology;  Graduate Diploma, University Teaching and Learning  and Graduate Certificate, Emergency Management.

• The financialisation of policing
• Police use of force, lethal and less than lethal force police shootings and use of tasers
• Suicide by Cop
• Policing domestic violence
• Policing mental health.
• Police hostage negotiations
• Drugs and drug crime, domestic and transnational
• Police Pursuits

Research students & topics

 2024 

1.    How do we protect children from sexual exploitation in cyberspace and how effective is the punishment for child sexual predators under the theory of deterrence? Comparative analysis between Australia and Indonesia.

2.     What are the major vulnerabilities and security challenges faced by the countries in the Malay Archipelago region? How can comprehensive maritime security strategies be developed to mitigate the threats of piracy in commercial trade routes in the region?

3.    The criminalisation of Western Sydney youth through the postcode wars. What can be done to reduce the actual and perceived social media image of Western Sydney youth?

4.    How can AU police reduce domestic and family violence if austerity was imposed upon the country? A thematic analysis and recommendation of practices using the US, UK, Canada and Nordic experiences.

5.     Art crime in Australia. Drawing on Foucauldian and Marxist theories how can police in Australia respond to the unregulated art crime market?

6.    The great gender divide. How can Tuvalu Police Service (TPS) attract and retain more female police officers given its enormously dispersed geography (islands) and population?

7.  Could Australia's correctional system implement a Norwegian style correctional system to reduce the recidivism rate in Australia

8. How does media representation of crime and policing in Australia influence public percetion of law enforcement and criminal justice policies, particularly about profiling and police accountability?

2023

1.    What is the link and to what degree is global trade in antiquities looting (trading in stolen cultural treasures) in the Middle East funding organised crime, specific terrorism?

2.    Thai Police Image through the view of University Students in Bangkok, Thailand. How university students in BKK, Thailand think of Thai police officers? 

3.     The troubling past of deep fake. What are the effects of deep fake pornography, and how can protection be provided to victims?

4.    Terrorist and organised crime groups are strongly linked to the illicit tobacco trade. The high consumer demand for illicit tobacco products, associated with the relatively low risk of being apprehended by law enforcement, make this illicit activity enticing for these criminal groups. To what degree does price disparities between countries, inadequate monetary and incarceration penalties, and inconsistencies within global trade arrangements (specifically Free Trade Zones) drive the financing of terrorist organisations through illicit tobacco trade?

2022    

Intelligence gained by controversial action is dubbed the ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’. Using examples of darknet policing on child abuse material, assess their value to society. Darknet policing.

2021   

Human trafficking. How have the different forms of media influenced human trafficking in Australia and the United States. What is the state of human trafficking of these two countries?

2019   

Could problems with court bonds in the ‘New Sentencing Regime’ in NSW be addressed by a multi-disciplinary approach akin to the NSW Drug Court Model?

PACE supervised research projects

 2024

1.    Rehabilitation of drivers. How can the community transform current diving culture into a more postive one in the absence of increased police enforcement in NSW? (Agency - NSW Police Force. Highway and Traffic Command).

2.    The militarisation of US policing and what influence, or not, has it had on Australian policing? (Agency - Weapons Training Unit. NSW Police Force).

2023 

1.    Where is the next generation of aerial – rotary (helicopters) engineers coming from given the country shortage of these specialist? How do we attract and retain these specialists? (Agency - NSW Police Force Aviation Command (polair))

2.    What will be the operational priorities of the NSW Police Aviation Command in 10-20 years? Where and what are the future urban, regional and rural population growths areas in NSW? What does the AC need to consider for this? (Agency - NSW Police Force Aviation Command (polair)).

3.     What are the global trends in the international trade of environmental waste such as e-waste and clothing? Where does AU fit into this and what are the weakness in policing these crimes? (Agency - Australian Border Force).

2022

1.     Review the effectiveness of national Crime Stoppers programs, including any quantifiable measurements that can be used to establish a new national program in Central American counties. (Agency - AlphaSix Consulting).

2.    Carryout a global review the effectiveness of the next generation drones for the NSW Police Force Aviation Command. Present a business case for the best 5 for our purposes. Expenditure per drone is approximately USD$1.5 million each. (Agency - NSW Police Force Aviation Command (polair)).

3.    Carryout a global review the effectiveness of the next generation FLIR’s (Forward Looking Infra-Red) for the NSW Police Force Aviation Command. Present a business case for the best 5 for our purposes. Expenditure per FLIR is approximately USD$1.5 million each.  (Agency - NSW Police Force Aviation Command (polair)).

4.    Carryout a global review the effectiveness of the next generation rotary appliance (helicopter) for the NSW Police Force Aviation Command Present a business case for the best 7 for our purposes? Expenditure is approximately USD$14 million each. (Agency - NSW Police Force Aviation Command (polair)).

5.     Carryout a global review the effectiveness of the next generation fixed wing appliance for the NSW Police Force Aviation Command Present a business case for the best 5 for our purposes. Expenditure is approximately USD$14 million each. (Agency - NSW Police Force Aviation Command (polair)).

2021

1.    Analyse the movement of counterfeit goods, pharmaceuticals, and lumber across Australian borders with the intent of subverting customs controls to avoid taxes, duties, or regulations on products. Identify commercial traders and organised crime or not, attempting to avoid the our borders? (Agency - Australian Border Force).

2.     Plumbing products with fake WELS labels. The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) Scheme is Australia’s urban water conservation scheme. It aims to conserve water by informing consumers of water usage rates of plumbing products and promoting efficient and effective water technologies and practices for industry. Though regular independent reviews of the WELS scheme have concluded that it is efficiently and effectively achieving its stated purpose, the Regulator continues to be challenged by the supply and install of non-conforming and counterfeit plumbing products. What are the best ways to counter fake WELS labels and household appliances? (Agency - Commonwealth Department of Environment and Climate Change).

3.     Counterfeit toilets and urinals. The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) Scheme is Australia’s urban water conservation scheme. It aims to conserve water by informing consumers of water usage rates of plumbing products and promoting efficient and effective water technologies and practices for industry. Though regular independent reviews of the WELS scheme have concluded that it is efficiently and effectively achieving its stated purpose, the Regulator continues to be challenged by the supply and install of counterfeit toilets and urinals. How can WELS better police these counterfeits products at our borders? (Agency - Commonwealth Department of Environment and Climate Change).

4.    What are the global connections between illicit trade of drugs and firearms by organised crime (especially within terrorism), particularly during the time of COVID? (Agency - AlphaSix Consulting).

5.     What are the existing pathways for graduates in the intelligence and private security sector to enter the NSW Corrective Services? How can NSWCS attract more intelligence graduates? (Agency - NSW Corrective Services).

2020

1.    What are the impacts of ‘Use of Force’ on inmates within the correctional environment and impacts on security and Correctional Officer health and well-being? (Agency – NSW Corrective Services)

2.     What are other global corrective services using for less than lethal weapons and restraints and impacts on security in a correctional setting. What are the benefits for NSWCS staff and minimal inmate injury? (Agency – NSW Corrective Services)

3.    What are global trends in smuggling contraband into NSW Prisons. Once inside what are the impact of the contraband? (Agency –  NSW Corrective Services)

4.     The Review of the Compulsory Drug Treatment Correctional Centre (CDTCC), Corrective Services NSW. How successful or not has it been? (Agency – NSW Corrective Services).

2019

1.    How can NSWCS use of Drones to enhance the security of correctional centres both inside and outside the prisons? (Agency – NSW Corrective Services)

2.    Using Self Organising Maps (SOM) for analysis of big data, how can this be used to better managing inmates within the Correctional Centres? (Agency – NSW Corrective Services)

3.    Environmental Crime. What are the threats and influences being experiences by global marine (fisheries related) and law enforcement partners. A particular concern is how environmental crime is how are these products reaching our market places and who is driving the demand for these products. (Agency – NSW Police Force. Maritime Command (Water Police))

4.    Post-traumatic stress disorder on police/emergency services. PTSD is a major factor restricting the operational capacity of law enforcement agencies.  The marine police officer is exposed to a higher number of deceased body recoveries from ocean and inland waters ( harbour, rivers and dams etc).  What other global marine/law enforcement agencies are doing to reduce the number of impacted officers.  Research other jurisdictions and prepare a list of recommendations and prevention strategies that can be adopted. (Agency – NSW Police Force. Maritime Command (Water Police))

PICT 8042 - Law Enforcement in Australia, 2019 to present. Convenor & lecturer

PICT 8099  -  Applied Criminology, 2020 to present. Co-lecturer

MRes & PICT 8047 -  Supervision in Research Projects, 2020 to present.

PICT 8950 - Strategic Simulation 2021 to present. Co-lecturer

PICT 2010 - Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, 2021, 2020 & 2017. Unit convenor & co-lecturer

PICT 2020 - Policing and Crime 2012 – present. Convenor & lecturer.

PICT 2013 - Crisis Management & Disaster Relief, 2012 – present. Unit Convenor & lecturer.

PICT 3020 - Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) 2019 – 2022. Convenor & lecture

PICT 837 - Terrorism Support Networks, 2014. Co-lecturer

PICT 806 - Leadership & Governance, 2016 & 2015. Co-lecturer

PICT 840 - Cyber Crime, 2013. Co-lecturer

PICT 841 - Organised Crime, 2016 & 2017. Convenor & lecturer.

PICT 707 - Understanding Organised Crime, 2016 & 2017. Convenor & lecturer

MGSM  - Comminication Skills and Conflict Resolution. Lecturer

Media 

He has given over 80 media interviews on domestic violence, hostage negotiations and various organised crime types, police policy and procedure. All have appeared online and on mainstream media outlines both nationally and international.

He has given evidence to;

The NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the crimes of assault.

The Federal Government Standing Committee on Law Enforcement in the link between organised crime and COVID.