Book Launch: Policing People - Background Characteristics and Occupational Attitudes in Law Enforcement (a Social Sciences Week Event)
Book launch: Policing People
Join the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University for the launch of Policing People: Background Characteristics and Occupational Attitudes in Law Enforcement by Professor Toby Miles-Johnson.
To celebrate Social Sciences Week 2026, the School of Social Sciences is excited to launch the book Policing People: Background Characteristics and Occupational Attitudes in Law Enforcement by Professor Toby Miles-Johnson.
This book explores why police background characteristics and occupational attitudes matter, and how they affect officers, policing, and citizen engagement. Bridging sociology, criminology, and organizational psychology, this book offers a timely, research-driven analysis of how police officers' background characteristics and occupational attitudes shape recruitment, behavior, and public engagement.
With a focus on education, gender, diversity, and institutional bias, Miles-Johnson provides critical insights into the internal dynamics of policing and their broader implications for citizen trust and professionalism. Essential for scholars and students of policing, criminal justice, and public administration, this book challenges conventional approaches to officer performance and retention by emphasizing the complex interplay between individual traits and institutional culture.
During the launch, Assistant Commissioner Brett Greentree APM of the NSW Police Force will join Professor Jason Pandya-Wood in conversation to discuss the book's key themes and their relevance to contemporary policing. Drawing on both research and practice, the discussion will explore how these issues are shaping police organisations, workforce development, leadership, and community engagement in today's policing environment.
Lineup
Professor Toby Miles-Johnson
Professor Toby Miles-Johnson, from the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University, has a national and international profile as a policing scholar specialising in quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Having researched with different institutions and groups of people, Toby specialises in research with police organisations, national security agencies, international defence agencies, and diverse groups of people, and people categorised as vulnerable or hard to reach. He has conducted multiple research projects in collaboration with six police organisations around Australia, as well as with the Australian Federal Police, two police organisations in the United Kingdom, and three police departments in the United States. Toby is interested in how institutions such as police and other national/international security agencies, respond to and engage with all citizens when experiencing victimisation or when professional engagement occurs. His research examines the importance of officer's background characteristics and occupational attitudes in law enforcement, police training, police education, police staffing, and police engagement with diverse communities. Cited and discussed in key policing documents around the globe, his research examines police recognition and response to domestic violence, hate crime, forced marriage, religious policing, mental health policing, as well as recruitment, deployment, attrition and promotion of officers, and policing diversity and inclusion. 2022-2024 Toby was ‘Chair of the Policing Group’ within the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology. Toby has delivered Key Note addresses in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia.
Assistant Commissioner Brett Greentree, APM
Assistant Commissioner Brett Greentree, APM currently serves as Commander, People and Capability for the New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF). Brett joined the New South Wales Police Force in February 1995 and performed general duties at Manly and City of Sydney until 1997 when he transferred to the rural township of Moree. Brett performed general and proactive crime duties before appointment to a criminal investigation position and later attaining his Detective’s designation in 2002. Brett then transferred from Moree to Inverell Child Abuse Squad before being appointed Detective Sergeant at Tweed Heads in 2004. Brett and his family moved to Bourke in 2007 after a promotion to Detective Inspector. He stayed there for four years before laterally transferring to the Central Hunter Command (Maitland) in 2011. In 2012, Brett was promoted to Superintendent as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Commissioner, Specialist Operations where he remained until 2014 after which he transferred to the Lake Macquarie Command. It was at Lake Macquarie that Brett was appointed as the Corporate Sponsor for Customer Service representing the NSWPF at executive level and leading a major change program which benefited the NSWPF and community. Brett was recognised with a Commissioner’s Commendation for Service in his role as Corporate Sponsor. In 2017, Brett transferred to Newcastle City Police District (PD) where he focused on community engagement and culture change within the District. In 2019, the Command was awarded a Commissioner’s Safety Award for Best Work-Place project for injured officers. Early 2021, Brett transferred to the Brisbane Water PD where he concentrated on workplace improvements. In June 2021, Brett was promoted to Assistant Commissioner, Western Region, based in Dubbo. He was the REOCON for three Emergency Management Areas and co-ordinated the COVID emergency response across numerous vulnerable Aboriginal communities. In July 2024, Brett transferred to the People and Capability Command where his focus is on empowering and enabling a connected workforce. Brett’s qualifications include a Master of Public Policy and Administration, Bachelor of Policing Degree, Graduate Diploma of Investigation Management, and several executive level courses at the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM). He has been awarded the Vincent Fairfax Ethical Leadership Scholarship and a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship for services to the community. Brett has also been the Visiting Fellow at the Indian Police Academy for their Mid-Career Training Program and he has studied at Boston University, USA, where he graduated at the Senior Management Institute of Police – Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). Brett has been awarded numerous awards including the prestigious Australian Police Medal (APM) in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
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