The Police Journal: Theory,Practice and Principles

Recent research in England and Wales indicates that there may be a significant proportion of social embeddedness within policing recruitment. This suggests that there is a significant amount of support sought by potential recruits through their existing social networks. Existing studies have been qualitative and therefore do not assess scale. This study aims to address this research gap by gathering data from a single cohort n = 987 of police recruits in 2017. The recruit’s success was tracked throughout the process, resulting in comparative data that illustrates whether prior social contacts should be considered as a potentially causal variable in that success.

In 2016, policing in England and Wales became a degree-entry profession. The pathway for those entering the service without a pre-existing degree is the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA). Due its novelty, there is little extant research surrounding its efficacy. This study gathered perceptions of PCDA officers through a mix of quantitative and qualitative data and thematic analysis, finding that the programme is viewed quite negatively, but this is improving over time. The negativity is largely influenced by a police culture and hierarchy both reluctant to change and facing significant operational pressures hindering students’experience.

This paper presents the results of a multi-method case study with a British police force carried out over a 2-year period examining the impacts of introducing body-worn cameras (BWCs). Our findings show that despite a broad enthusiasm for the potential of BWCs, police officers and staff in a British police force reported a series of unintended and undesirable consequences resulting from the introduction of BWCs. These impacts appear to have partly undermined some of the original intentions of introducing BWCs, such as improving policing standards, aiding prosecutorial processes thanks to improved evidential capture and reducing police officer workloads.

This paper evaluates the perceptions of effectiveness, from those working within ARC (Assisting Rehabilitation through Collaboration); the National Integrated Offender Management (IOM) Programme in Lincolnshire. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 professionals from either the ARC core team, partner agencies, or police inspectors external to ARC. The data was analysed using Thematic Analysis. Participants identified six key themes relating to the perceived effectiveness of ARC; the ARC Cohort; ARC staff; barriers; outcomes; partnerships; and the wider policing staff. The barriers faced by the ARC implementation are also faced by other IOM programmes. The core features identified to strengthen IOM implementation are better access to housing and improving mental health provision.

While the time dimension is part of the definition of serial crime, little attention has been given to understanding offending timelines and the impact of patterns of shorter or longer delays between crimes on the evolution of series on the ability to link crimes. Given the scarcity of research focusing on the timelines of serial offenders, the current study aimed to (1) determine whether series can be classified based on their timeline trajectories (e.g., progressively shorter intervals or progressively longer), and (2) determine whether these timeline trajectories correlate with trajectories of behavioral consistency and change across series. Data included 43 homicide series encompassing 216 crime scenes. Trajectories were determined based on whether intervals increased, decreased, or remained consistent across series, and whether timeline trajectories and behavioral trajectories align. Results revealed that distinct timeline trajectories can reliably distinguish between series. Results also suggested a complex interaction between time between crimes and how this relates to behavioral consistency and change trajectories, thus, suggesting that time is a useful, but potentially separate dimension in the linkage process.

In missing person cases, police often face spontaneous searches by citizens. This study examined the involvement of police and citizens in a well-known Dutch case. It shows that the relationship between police and volunteers is not static, but changes over time. Initially, citizens are more quickly organized and take charge. As the investigation progresses, different types of volunteers are incorporated into the police structure. Citizens pose dilemmas regarding direction and information sharing, but provide valuable search capacity and expertise. The results show the importance of not opposing citizen initiatives, but rather making contact, establishing structure and coordinating efforts early on.

The Crime and Disorder Act (1998) requires the police, local authorities, NHS, and other organisations to share intelligence and collectively work to reduce violent crime. This paper aimed to explore opinions on linking police data with other agency data. Interviews were undertaken with individuals from police forces in Wales, UK. Barriers to sharing data with other organisations involve differences in the systems used to store police data and uncertainties around what is allowed to be shared. Overcoming barriers would allow data linkage across organisations leading to deeper insights into the causes of violence, and therefore intelligence that supports crime prevention.

Canadian police services rely on their Emergency Response Teams (ERT) to respond to diverse calls for service, requiring ERT members to meet physical fitness standards aligned with the physically demanding components of ERT responsibilities. In the current article, we explore the different physical testing components of Canadian tactical teams to better understand the physical testing standards for ERT. We do this by investigating how members of the Association of Canadian Critical Incident Commanders respond to closed and open-ended survey items related to fitness testing for ERT members, consequences of not passing ERT physical testing standards, and how fitness standards are perceived as creating barriers to member retention and recruitment to ERT. We center our discussion on the need for a physically capable police service to ensure security, reduce risk, and enhance public safety and suggest potential avenues for policy changes tied to physical testing standards as ways forward.

Traditional UK policing relies on Peelian principles of policing by consent in which public views of police legitimacy are crucial. This study used a mixed methods survey design to explore the impact of the Coronavirus Act 2020 on public perceptions towards the police in one UK force region. The findings indicate that self-reported compliance with COVID-19 measures was significantly related to trust in local policing. Qualitative responses indicate that police enforcement of Covid regulations was believed to infringe on individual liberties while losing focus on ‘real crime’ and decreasing trust in police.

Policing by its very nature has been widely recognised as being inherently stressful with little that can be done to prevent police officers’ exposure to both primary and secondary trauma. Officers involved in the investigation of child abuse and sexual offences have been further recognised as working in some of the most stressful and demanding roles in policing. However, there has been little research within this high-risk group of officers which seeks to understand how they cope with both the organisational and occupational stressors they are exposed to, as well as which strategies help them to ‘get up in the morning’. Data were collected through twenty-three (23) semi-structured interviews, with Straussian Grounded Theory used as a framework to develop a model of coping. This study highlighted that although some officers were affected by the traumatic nature of their work, there were other risk factors present which appear to have impacted on them more significantly including ‘burnout’, ’compassion fatigue’ and ‘moral injury’. Protective factors were identified as ‘being in control’, ‘organisational, social and peer support’ as well as ‘having a purpose’ all of which impacted on an officer’s ability to cope with the work they do. The present findings extend our knowledge of key concepts relating to police officer coping which may help officers working in these high-risk roles to cope with challenges they face daily. Recommendations for further research on how to support this group of officers, as well as implications for practice are discussed.

Background: The mental health and wellbeing of police personnel has received increased attention over the last 5 years and rates of mental illness amongst employees are high. Anxiety and depression are the most common mental illnesses within the police force, yet little is known about how effective psychotherapeutic interventions are in treating the symptoms of these mental illnesses in police personnel, that is, how many police personnel recover from anxiety and depression after completing a course of psychotherapy. In the psychotherapy outcome literature, recovery rates for anxiety and depression in clinical samples following treatment are low, between 37% and 47%, suggesting similar outcomes can be expected within the police force using current therapy models. Further research into new or unused interventions is therefore needed to improve recovery rates within the police force. Method: This pilot study explored how a new type of psychotherapy, online Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH), can support the wellbeing of police personnel and effectively treat symptoms of anxiety and depression. A quantitative design was used to measure changes in anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-9) symptom severity at pre- and post-intervention and measure changes in wellness using a rating scale (Life Wellness Indicator Tool) at the end of each session. Results: A total of 42 police personnel, both officers and staff, participated in the study and 20 qualified SFH therapists delivered the online intervention. The main finding was that 78% of police personnel who completed a course of SFH and started with clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and/or depression had recovered from their illness following the intervention (i.e. scored below 5 on at least one outcome measure). A total of 97.2% of participants achieved ‘wellness’ after the intervention, compared to 19% at pre-intervention and no participants experienced an increase in symptom scores after completing the intervention. Conclusion: Online Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (SFH) can support the wellbeing of both police officers and staff and effectively treat the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Our findings suggest that SFH is an effective, well liked and safe intervention to use within the police force and provides support for more resources into a larger randomised controlled trial.