Precautionary policing and dispositives of risk in a police force control room in domestic abuse incidents: an ethnography of call handlers, dispatchers and response officers

Abstract

BLACK, Alexandra and LUMSDEN, Karen (2019). Precautionary policing and dispositives of risk in a police force control room in domestic abuse incidents: An ethnography of call handlers, dispatchers and response officers. Policing and society.

More lesson learning, less risk aversion in England and Wales? Prospects for the police (conduct) regulations 2020

“…Fear within the police service that complaints investigations may be biased in favour of the complainant, are particularly prevalent in respect of alleged ‘neglect of duty’ in the wake of ‘risk’ incidents involving potential danger to life (Black and Lumsden, 2019; Thomas and Forrester-Jones, 2019). ‘Neglect of duty’ has become by far the greatest category of complaint over the last decade, comprising 41% of all complaints in 2019–20 (IOPC, 2020).…”

Is there ‘discretionary space’ in rank-based police constabularies for graduate constables to think critically and make autonomous decisions?

“…Any deviation from the policy must be explained and justified. This approach is argued to be driven by risk aversion and has been applied to a range of situations, including: stop search procedures, positive arrest policy in domestic violence cases and the use of body worn video cameras (Diemer et al, 2017;Wood and Williams, 2017;Rowe, Pearson and Turner, 2018;Black and Lumsden, 2020). Such a policy driven approach not only limits discretion but is more in keeping with the organisational professionalism as described by Evetts.…”

“…The response from police leaders has been to adopt a risk adverse mentality (Heaton, 2011;Green and Gates, 2014;Heaton, Bryant and Tong, 2019). Risk adversity manifesting as complex bureaucratic procedures that need to be completed by the response officer in virtually every incident they attend, in effect regulating and limiting the discretion previously available to officers in street level policing (Heaton, Bryant and Tong, 2019;Black and Lumsden, 2020). The increasing use of information technology by constabularies to monitor incidents from the initial call from a member of the public to finalisation by a police supervisor means that officer discretion is limited and noncompliance with policies and procedures is easily highlighted and challenged (Chan, 2001(Chan, , 2003Rowe, 2007).…”

“…Any deviation from the policy must be explained and justified. This approach is argued to be driven by risk aversion and has been applied to a range of situations, including: stop search procedures, positive arrest policy in domestic violence cases and the use of body worn video cameras (Black and Lumsden, 2020; Diemer et al ., 2017; Rowe et al ., 2018; Wood and Williams, 2017).…”

“How Should the Police Let Victims Down?” The Impact of Reassurance Call-Backs by Local Police Officers to Victims of Vehicle and Cycle Crimes: A Block Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Substantively speaking, this is of course true: every contact with victims leaves data points that can be analyzed to improve our understanding of crime patterns, even when a suspect was not apprehended (Ariel et al, 2019). Importantly, from a victim’s point of view, a call-back signals that they matter and that their reporting was not done in vain because their incident can lead to the prevention of future crime (see for example, Black & Lumsden, 2019; Lum et al, 2021, p. 22).…”