Understanding the landscape of policing when responding to vulnerability: interviews with frontline officers across Wales

Barton, Emma R, McManus, Michelle ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0095-1071, Johnson, Georgia, Harker, Sophie, Rodriguez, Gabriela Ramos, Newbury, Annemarie, Janssen, Hayley, Morris, Felicity, Jones, Bethan and Roberts, Jo (2019) Understanding the landscape of policing when responding to vulnerability: interviews with frontline officers across Wales. Project Report. Public Health Wales. ISBN 97817898615411

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Abstract

The National Adverse Childhood Experiences Approach to Policing Vulnerability: Early Action Together (E.A.T) programme is a unique collaboration between Public Health Wales and the four Welsh Police Forces and Police and Crime Commissioners, in partnership with Criminal Justice, Youth Justice and third sector organisations, funded by the Home Office to deliver a national programme of change across Wales. Whilst public safety, welfare and vulnerability is the highest demand for UK police forces, frontline officers and staff face many challenges responding to vulnerable individuals. The E.A.T. programme sets out to address these challenges and transform how police and partner agencies work together to respond to vulnerability beyond statutory safeguarding. Recognising the importance of early intervention and preventative action, this programme will develop a whole systems response to vulnerability to ensure pathways for support are available for the police when vulnerability falls below thresholds for statutory support. Building into current systems, this work will utilise existing community assets to develop a bank of resources for police and partners to draw upon when supporting people in their communities. This report is the first in a series of reports that has sought to understand the landscape in policing vulnerability across Wales, which in turn will support the E.A.T programme approach. It outlines the reality of responding to vulnerable individuals for frontline officers, the enablers and blockers in current service delivery and examines the introduction of the Adverse Childhood Experience Trauma-Informed Multi-agency Early Action Together training (ACE TIME training). This report provides the individual, situational and organisational context within which to view post ACE TIME training findings and provide key recommendations when preparing to deliver a National transformational and cultural change programme within policing. To capture the rich, complex picture of policing vulnerability 152 semi-structured interviews with a range of different policing roles across Wales were conducted. A review of the literature provided an understanding of the nature of vulnerability demand, examined key aspects that influence responses to incidents of vulnerability and explored potential factors that may affect engagement with the transformational change the E.A.T programme attempts to achieve. A number of key areas emerged from the literature that informed interviews with frontline staff: (1) Previous knowledge and understanding of vulnerability through training, systems, policy and guidance; (2) Understanding and attitudes towards ‘trauma-informed’ approaches and ACEs, in a police context; (3) Experiences and views on multi-agency working and collaborative working; (4) Workforce wellbeing, with a strong evidential link between the importance of wellbeing, organisational support and organisational belonging; (5) Attitudes and perceptions of transformational and organisational change programmes within policing.