A Stroke of Genius: Rembrandt’s ‘The Anatomy Lesson’ as an Inspiration for Organising Research For, About and In the World of Policing

In this chapter we introduce a practical way to innovate and democratise research on policing. To reach this aim we call for police, professionals, citizens, policy makers and academics to form research groups and work together on policing. We set the stage by using the Anatomical Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt as a mirror and metaphorical reference. We describe how that imagery inspired our thoughts about forming these research groups. We not only link these ideas to present debates in the scientific community, but also come up with a suggestion for organising scientific research into policing in another manner. We have been inspired by old guilds as an interesting meeting point for scientists and interested civilians and professionals to build a community. A community can only be formed when members get to know each other. We describe how people with different (professional) backgrounds can come together and built a research community in four stages. We are not keen on institutionalising these collaborations up front. First, they need to grow roots. For us, these roots are getting to know each other in an initial research project. Only then—as in the painting by Rembrandt—the group will be enlightened.