Control and legacy as functions of perceived criticality in major incidents

Abstract

This paper outlines a model that captures the experiences of 28 Senior Officers who have managed some of the most significant police incidents in the UK in the past 5 years. The process for capturing the model rests on 'pragmatic psychology' (Fishman, 1999; Alison, West & Goodwill, 2003) hand; and (ii) whether that issue will influence how the service will be judged (by the community, the victims and the media). These issues were perceived as the most complex and difficult to deal with. We argue that this perception is a joint function of perceived lack of control alongside the belief that judgment and blame regarding the incident will ultimately reside with them as managers. , a paradigm that recognizes practitioners' experiences as a central component of research and policy development. We utilized a set of connected electronic notebooks to enable each critical incident manager to log their experiences and views of the case that they managed. As each individual logs this information, it is simultaneously distributed to all participants. Thus, information is rapidly shared, stimulating further thought and discussion. Following the initial knowledge-sharing phase, participants reorder the material into themed categories that can then be scored against specific criteria (in this case 'impact' and 'ease'). This session revealed that senior officers consider a combination of two co-occurring issues as most significant in defining the 'criticality' of the incident: (i) how direct an impact the facet has on the enquiry at

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