Ross Hendy is a Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences. His research focuses on the development of theoretical and applied perspectives of police and policing, such as practitioner behaviour and the effectiveness of police intervention. He is developing a new theoretical approach to explain police-citizen interaction, which explores officer decision-making and their use of control, coercion and the use of force. As a former sergeant with New Zealand Police, he has worked with researchers to enhance their understanding of the police environment, the limitations of police administrative data, and providing advice about real-world issues that criminal justice practitioners and policy-makers face in the criminological and criminal justice environment.

Dr Hendy is a member of the Australian and New Zealand, American and British societies of criminology and a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

His research has involved the study of police officers from Australia, England, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. His doctoral research took a mixed-methods approach to consider differences in the manner that routinely armed police (from South Australia) and routinely unarmed police (from New Zealand) interacted with members of the public during conflict-prone encounters. His portfolio of applied research work at New Zealand Police’s Evidence Based Policing Centre focused on developing insight into operational policing issues such as the lethal police use of force and understanding the increasing demand for mental health-related calls for service. 

His broader research and teaching interests include criminological theory, cross-national comparative criminology and criminal justice, applied criminology, policing theory and practice, and transnational policing. He practices mixed-method research, incorporating qualitative and ethnographic research methods, and applied evaluation and evidenced-based approaches to tackle research problems. 

View Dr Hendy's thoughts about policing published by Policing Insight.

View Dr Hendy's articles about policing and police use of force published on The Conversation.

2025 Teaching

• ATS1422 Crime Prevention and Crime Control (2024–)
• ATS2458 Policing (2020–)
• ATS3941 Police leadership and professional practice (2024–)
• ATS3945 Contemporary issues in policing practice (2024–)

Previous Teaching

• ATS2555 Foundations to Researching Crime and Justice (2022)
• ATS3172 Researching Crime and Justice (2020-2021)

Dr Hendy is keen to work with students, including aspiring and current police practitioners, to advance their knowledge of criminological theory, programme evaluation, and policing issues. 

Current

• Monash Human Research Ethics Committee (2023–2026)
• Criminology Research Impact and Engagement Coordinator (2025)

Previous

• Criminology Major Co-ordinator (2022–2023)
• Criminology HDR Co-ordinator (2020–2022/24)