Port of Tilbury-Police Constable

[Phd_researcher * 0]

Hello, I'm Rebecca Kirley, a PhD student. I’m working on a project for my dissertation which explores the idea of organisational learning from public complaints and civil claims in police forces. This is in light of the recent national changes to the complaints system to make it more learning-oriented, and also because there's been little research into what it means to learn from these kinds of processes, or whether and how such learning happens. Part of the study also explores what role might be played in learning (if any) by force social diversity.

If you would be willing to share your professional perspectives and experiences with me it would be a massive help!  I am currently in the middle of a qualitative phase of research, involving short one-to-one interviews online (Zoom or Teams) with a range of police officers, staff and leaders in different forces. I have carried out 20 interviews already and I am trying to get to 40 by the end of April 2022.

All participation and contributions are strictly anonymous, and no individual or organisation will be identifiable in final research outputs. Once the research is published, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, I will share the main findings and any recommendations for practice/policy with the policing community.

There are more details about the project at this link:

https://sites.google.com/view/rebeccakirley/participate-in-research

At this stage I would especially like to hear from response officers and individuals with experience of working in or with PSDs or civil claims teams, but I am very happy to speak with anyone who would like to share their views (positive or negative, strongly held or less certain, pessimistic or optimistic - I'm looking for as wide a range of views as I can find!).

If you’d like to help me with the research, or if you’d like to know more first, I’d be glad to hear from you at:

[email protected]

Or if you prefer, you can send me a message on here.

Thanks a lot for reading!

[1TILL5 127]

Sounds like a trap to me 👀. 

 

Are you after serving officers? 

[POM0272 242]

I’ll tell you quite simply there’s very rarely a learning culture when it comes to complaints. Generally there’s either a witch hunt by whichever authority is investigating the matter, sometimes over a split second decision, egged on by the media. Or you’ve got someone in the job so stupid/corrupt they shouldn’t have been attested in the first place.

We all make mistakes and get decisions wrong that’s part of the job. It’s becoming less of a thing now but senior cops and Sergeants, used to help those younger in service with the learning side of things.

[Phd_researcher * 0]

In response to a question above, participants can either be currently or recently serving (i.e. left service up to 2 years ago).

[Phd_researcher * 0]

11 hours ago, POM0272 said:

I’ll tell you quite simply there’s very rarely a learning culture when it comes to complaints. Generally there’s either a witch hunt by whichever authority is investigating the matter, sometimes over a split second decision, egged on by the media. Or you’ve got someone in the job so stupid/corrupt they shouldn’t have been attested in the first place.

We all make mistakes and get decisions wrong that’s part of the job. It’s becoming less of a thing now but senior cops and Sergeants, used to help those younger in service with the learning side of things.

Thanks POMO272. Your comment about learning cultures around complaints being rare chimes with what I’ve been hearing, and with what most people assume not only for policing, but for the public sector and organisations in general (i.e. organisations and the people in them become defensive- sometimes with good reason, other times less so, depending on the perspective – which inhibits the candour and openness needed for collective learning). I’m exploring these questions in more detail because I think the view that learning never or rarely happens has been too taken for granted (in research as well as practice), and deserves some closer investigation if we are to find ways of increasing the learning potential of these kinds of processes and systems. So even if learning is rare, I hope to be able to contribute a more researched explanation of what conditions are needed for learning to take place and vice versa.

[SD + 688]

Can I ask why a student studying in Italy  is asking UK cops for research?

[Phd_researcher * 0]

@SD Yes, of course. I am from the UK, and was living and working as a public servant there (not related to policing) before I started my PhD. So, while I am based in Italy for the moment, I spend time between both places and I’m interested in and care about what happens in the UK. 

[Phd_researcher * 0]

Just giving my post a quick bump - and a post to say that I will be at the Security and Policing event in Farnborough tomorrow (Thursday) as part of my outreach. If you're going and would be curious to have a chat about the project I'm working on/potentially participate, feel free to write me a message on the event's online platform or send me an email at [email protected] I'll be roving around the stands and the coffee areas until the mid-afternoon and would be glad to chat!