Summary

I am a Senior Lecturer at Bristol University Law School having previously worked as a solicitor at the Crown Prosecution Service and Senior Solicitor at the former Avon and Somerset Police Authority, where I gained extensive practical experience of police complaints and conduct processes. I now conduct research in the areas of police accountability, regulation and governance, evidence-based policing, and police use of digital technologies. My combination of legal professional, police institutional and academic experience gives me a unique perspective which is reflected in my published work. This includes critical analysis of legislative reforms, doctrinal arguement regarding the tests for police negligence and officer miscondcut, detailed critical analysis of the literature on trust in the police and its practical policy implications, analysis of lesson-learning within the police conduct system, and content analysis and methogological critique of the Police Super-complaints system. 

At a practical level I led an evaluation of Avon and Somerset Police’s Operation Remedy which included a wide range of interviews and focus groups with senior and more street level officers. I have also acted as legal consultant on a community-based film project where my input was able to demonstrate how accountability mechanisms for police use of excessive force and deployment of 'taser' devices can interact to exacerbate institutional racism. More recently I have worked with the Avon and Somerset Violence Reduction Partnership in relation to its response to serious youth violence, and in May 2026 was awarded the Benjamin Meaker Award to work on an international collaboration with Dr Justin Ellis at Newcastle Univeristy New South Wales "Reconceptualising the relstionship between policing, surgeillance technology, and democracy" 

I am founder and director of the University of Bristol Research Centre for Crime, Law and Society,(Centre for Crime Law and Society | University of Bristol Law School | University of Bristol)

 

Journal Articles

The Casey Review, institutional racism and police accountability for use of force: how assessing police accountability systems by reference to axes of accountability clarifies the issues.            Torrible, C., 2026 Legal Studies, 46(1), pp.85-104.

The “Section 60 stop and search super-complaint” and what it reveals about evidence-based policing and the super-complaints system.                                                                                          Torrible, C., 2025 Policing: An International Journal, 48(6), pp.1357-1371.

Police Institutional Racism, Labelling and Mixed Messages: Analysis of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police׳ s John Harris Memorial Lecture 2024.    Torrible, C., 2025 International Journal Of Police Science, 4(2).

R (on the application of W80) v Director General of the Independent Office of Police Conduct: Landmark Ruling or Business as Usual?. Torrible, C., 2024. The Modern Law Review.The Modern Law Review.

“Trust in the police and policing by consent in turbulent times” Torrible C. (2022) C Safer Communities -  https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SC-08-2021-0036/full/html

"Police complaints and discipline: integrity, lesson learning, independence and accountability: some implications of the reforms under the Policing and Crime Act 2017"  Torrible, C. (2020) Policing and Society, 31(9), pp.1117-1132. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2020.1838516

"Reconceptualising the police complaints process as a site of contested legitimacy claims." Torrible, C. (2018)  Policing and Society, 28(4), pp.464-479.

"Policing Professionalism and Liability in Negligence" Conaghan, J. and Torrible, C. (2017) Journal of Professional Negligence (33) 22 86-108

 

Other Publications 

Serious Youth Violence in Bristol: Rapid Review                          Levell, J., Staines, J., Torrible, C. N., Brett, R., Roberts, T. & Curtis, J., 25 Jan 2025, University of Bristol. 

Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report

Response to the UK’s March 2023 White Paper "A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation" Charlesworth, A., J., Fotheringham, K., Gavaghan, C., Sanchez-Graells, A. and Torrible, C. (2023).University of Bristol Law School. 

How can black people feel safe and have confidence in policing  - Torrible C., (2022) The Converstaion https://theconversation.com/how-can-black-people-feel-safe-and-have-confidence-in-policing-191521

Why the police in England and Wales must do more than just learn lessons -  Torrible C., (2022) The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-the-police-in-england-and-wales-must-do-more-than-just-learn-lessons-179052

Supplementary written Evidence to the Home Affairs Committee on Police Conduct and Complaints. PCO0079  May 2021 https://committees.parliament.uk/work/495/police-conduct-and-complaints/publications/written-evidence/

 Written Evidence to the Home Affairs Committee on Police Conduct and Complaints PCOOO54  March 2021 https://committees.parliament.uk/work/495/police-conduct-and-complaints/publications/written-evidence/

 

PhD Thesis: ‘The Role of Civil Actions in Police Regulation.’

This examines the relationship between police complaints and civil actions against the police, exploring the significant developmental impact each has had on the other and the current practical interplay between the two processes.

 

Conference Papers 

“Where the Old Meets the New: Reframing Police Accountability in a Time of Technological Revolution” Law and Society Association Annual Conference Chicago USA. June 2025

"Increasing the Divide:Body worn camera, cell phone footage, police accountability and police communit relations. La and Society Association  Annual Conference  Denver USA June 2023.

"Body Worn Camera Perspectives, Mobile Phone Footage and New Insights into the Failings of Formal Police Accountability Mechanisms”. European Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Florence, Italy. Septemebr 2023

“Power and Independent Police Oversight: Power relations within the police complaints and discipline system and the legal test for excessive force”. Law and Society Association Annual Conference, Puerto Rico, USA. June 2023

"Bad Apples, Blame Culture and Institutional Racism: police use of excessive force and the implications of the test for officer miscondcut" Australia and New Zealand Criminology Society Annual Conference. Darwin Australia December 2022  

 “Slipping through cracks: How police accountability mechanisms support institutional racism and fail to counter excessive force - The case of Judah Adunbi” Law and Society Association Annual Conference, Chicago (online) May 2021

"Police Voilence and Police Complaints: Independence Integrity and Individual Justice". Annual Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Conference, Universtiy of Melbourne, December 2018.

"Caught up in the moment or part of the movement? Revisiting the political and ideological underpinning of Thompson and Hsu" Society of Legal Studies Conference, Univeristy of Bristol  2017.

"Policing Complaints: A collaborative Vision of Civil Actions and Police Complaints Processes in Police Regulation." Law and Society Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 2016.

“A Polarised Approach to Police Complaints."  Society of Legal Studies Conference, University of Warwick, September 2015.

Poster

"Civil Actions Against the Police and Police Complaints Processes." Sociaty of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, Univeristy of York, September 2015. 

 

Biography

Clare graduated from Bristol University in 1995, going on the complete the Legal Practice Course in 1996. She trained in commercial private practice, gaining experience in commercial litigation, banking litigation and non-contentious commercial property work. She also has extensive experience in the public sector having acted as a prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service and as Senior Solicitor at the Avon and Somerset Police Authority. She completed a Masters in Socio-legal Studies at Bristol Univeristy in 2011 and her Doctorate in 2019.