Innovating during the pandemic? Policing, domestic abuse and multi-agency risk assessment conferencing (MARACs)

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the challenges posed for the ongoing implementation of multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs) for police forces in England and Wales during the 2020 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This is rapid response research involving qualitative methods primarily online semi-structured interviewing with a sample of police domestic abuse leads in England and Wales. Findings The findings point to increased use of virtual platforms particularly for MARACs and that this has beneficial consequences both for the police and in their view also for victim-survivors. Research limitations/implications The findings reported here are from policing domestic abuse leads. More work needs to be done to explore the value of engaging in virtual MARACs for all the agencies concerned but also whether MARACs continue to be the best way to ensure the victim-survivor is kept in view. Practical implications The use of virtual platforms carries a range of practice implications for the future of MARACs for the foreseeable future. These range from ensuring attendance of the appropriate agencies to the range and frequency of meetings, to infrastructural support for all agencies to engage. Originality/value This is an original study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council examining police and court responses to domestic abuse during the covid-19 pandemic.

The hard and complex work of implementing new multi-agency risk assessment approaches to policing domestic abuse

“…A process and outcome evaluation of its work pointed to the positive effects that this kind of multi-agency working had for victim-survivors of DA, particularly high-risk victims, and led to this multi-agency model being adopted throughout England and Wales (Robinson and Tregidga 2007 ). However, questions were raised regarding information sharing within the context of MARACs and the extent to which such conferences facilitated victim-survivor empowerment (Westmarland 2011 ; Walklate et al 2021 ).…”

“…Walklate et al ( 2021 ) provide a useful summary, outlining four issues that present ongoing challenges for MARACs. These are the appropriate identification of (high-risk) cases; the representation of appropriate agencies at these conferences; managing the volume of work; and appropriate action planning.…”

“…Awareness of these criticisms has led to regional and local areas in England and Wales re-designing their MARAC arrangements in recent years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this included moving MARAC meetings to take place online (Walklate et al 2021 ). For others, these criticisms resonate with professional stakeholder experiences of being engaged in MARAC processes.…”

“…The focus on victims, perpetrators and children ensures a holistic family approach. The development of this new approach was to address criticisms of the traditional MARAC process, overcoming issues with silo working, inconsistencies in the services that attended MARAC meetings and issues with practitioners adopting trauma-informed approaches to working with service-users (Walklate et al 2021 ). In summary, the new system was designed on the following principles: All members of the process are central: the whole family approach.…”

Reviewing in a pandemic? A commentary on COVID-19 and domestic homicide review

“…Indeed, the move online was eased because most of the professionals involved had already adopted and adapted to changes in working practices in their day-to-day work (for example, multi-agency risk management meetings rapidly moved online. See Walklate et al, 2021).…”