Policing child abuse: challenges and opportunities for specialist units

Abstract

Structured Abstract PurposeDrawing on literature from the field and the recent experience of an evaluation into a child abuse investigation in Scotland, this paper will argue that evidence from the literature suggests that a more holistic approach drawing on the ideas of communities of practice could improve the way in which child abuse investigations are conducted. DesignThis article has been informed by a recent evaluation of a new national unit that was set up to investigate suspected child abuse in Scotland. This unit was established as part of the transition from eight regional police services in Scotland to a single national police service, Police Scotland. An important part of this evaluation was to consider the messages from previous research into the development of national police units and the role of the police in child protection investigations more generally. FindingsWhat was uncovered were the challenges that police officers face in the current context of child abuse investigation particularly around construction of child abuse investigations, collaborative working, staff well-being, and training. ValueThis paper contributes to a growing body of work examining the way in which child abuse investigations are conducted by police and the importance of inter-agency collaboration to support this. It contributes to academic debates and knowledge about the overall investigation process where to date there has been a paucity of literature and research which has tended to focus on evidence and experiences and to a boarder literature recognising the need for holistic approaches to approaches to tackle Child Abuse Article Classification Viewpoint

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“…The Regional Training Center has not only helped in building capacities of personnel who work on domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assaults, but also encourages more awareness, outreach, and advocacy on Gender-based violence, sexual assaults, domestic violence, and child abuse which are taking place periodically. Finally, FPD maintains a database and information to study and analyze issues related to domestic violence which helps research and studies to combat the violence and stand united against gender inequality [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

A Systematic Literature Review of Specialist Policing of Rape and Serious Sexual Offences

“…Child abuse, gang crime, and cyber-crime are just some of the types of offences that have dedicated specialist police units in the majority of forces in several countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), Australia, and the United States of America (USA; Harkin et al, 2018;Martin et al, 2017;Valasik et al, 2016;Willits & Nowacki, 2016), with recommendations for specialist police teams for other types of crime and policing such as tourism and art in Europe and the UK (Mawby et al, 2015;Runhovde, 2021). A common justification for specialism in policing is the unique knowledge and skill each crime investigation requires.…”

“…These different types of specialist knowledge required for the investigation of different offence types, as outlined in this previous research, should lead to several types of outcomes: (i) better investigation of offences, leading to better charge (and potentially conviction) rates; (ii) better protection and safeguarding of victims, and (iii) the protection of officer wellbeing (Harkin et al, 2018;Martin et al, 2017;Valasik et al, 2016;Willits & Nowacki, 2016). The importance of specialism in some crimes, and the effect it can have on these outcomes, can be demonstrated in the impact when that specialism is no longer present.…”