A Job Well Done? Framing police
conceptualisations of success in
missing persons
Amy Humphrey
University of Dundee
Supervisors: Prof. Nick Fyfe, Dr Jon Mendel & Dr Penny Woolnough
Abt 43% people reported as missing to the police
are found by the police*
•
•
UKMPB 2012/13 Report
2014/2015 report shows this at 45% – drawn from 22 forces which use Compact and where
‘finder’ is known
The Problem of success: What makes a successful
homicide investigation?
Brookman & Innes (2013)
• Found that officer constructions of policing success are more complex
than ‘identify and charge perpetrator’
• Four Success themes identified –
• Outcome (conviction)
• Process (good investigation)
• Community impact reduction (reassurance)
• Preventative Success (prediction & prevention)
Research Objective 2: Identify and map police human-actor constructs of success
in missing work and explore the actions of the network in relation to these
identified goals.
Academic tool: Allow critical
analysis of network data – do
actions/systems support self
identified goals?
A model of ‘good enough’
policing for missing
persons (Bowling, 2007)
Contribute to shared
understanding of ‘missing
(Scottish Government, 2015)
Actor perceived goals:
May indicate cultural or individual
cognitive and behavioural motivators for
missing persons police actions
Framework for evaluating police
organisational systems/networks
and/or culture regarding missing
persons
Do police actor constructs of success match
organisational policies, targets or frameworks?
22 Semi structured interviews
X 11 Focus Groups – Peer group only
X 13 National level:
Force
Rank/Role
Police Constables
Role
Strathshire &
Holmshire
X7
Sergeants
Subject Matter Expert X 2
Inspectors
National policy
Area Control Room
Staff
Manager/lead
X4
worker
PolSAs
X 9 Case Study Area:
Holmshire only
PCSOs
Force
Strathshire
X 5 SME’s/Lead
Holmshire
X 4 SME/lead
Rank representation at case
study level:
Chief Superintendent –
Constable/police staff (G grade)
Example Questions – adjusted to fit conversational flow
and/or job role
What do you think constitutes success in missing persons police work?
What would make you look at a piece of missing persons work and think that
was a job well done?
Would a person have to be found alive and well for you to consider a
(search/investigation) successful?
Post conference note: Some forces/agencies have indicated they will use these questions in training
events. If your organisation would like to do the same, please contact me for more supporting
literature and citation details – Thanks! (I may also ask for some of the answers in return!)
Thematic Network Analysis (See: Attrider-Stirling (2001)
• Makes explicit the coding mechanism
• 3 levels coding framework – Global, Organising and Basic
• Worked well with grounded theory approach
“I think, if they are found dead, we
will probably feel like, it’s
satisfactory, the policing response
is satisfactory even though the
person’s been found dead”
- Inspector Focus Group
Success does not always mean a celebration –
importance of tact during research and also of
supporting officers to value their contributions
Global and organising Success Themes Found:
Outcome – ‘we find’
• Find Alive
• Find deceased
• Clear system
Process
• Procedural Optimisation
• Risk Mitigation
• Withstand Internal & External Scrutiny
Preventative
• Safeguard Missing Person & Others
• Prevent Missing Instances
Impact
• Support
• Community Impact Reduction
• Legitimacy & trust
The following slides illustrate the more complex thematic
networks around the global themes noted in previous slide,
using key basic themes – less prevalent basic themes are
omitted here for clarity.
IF not in
place prev.
searched
IF “nothing
we could
have
done”
“WE found them alive, in a short period of time”
- Sgt Focus Group
Don’t
return
to...
Outcome
Success
(WE FIND)
Recover
Remains
Quickly
Alive
IF Timely
discovery
Closure
for
family
Before
harm
occurs
“Off the
system”
P1: that’s always the first question you
ask isn’t it
Establish
P2: where they were found
crossmatch
P1: where were they found...did we
search there? – PolSA Focus Group
Return
to...
(Strategic)
Numbers
reduction
Not a
missing
person
Workload/
cognitive
load
easing
P1: I kept giving the same officer mispers for a while, and I know it’s not fair but
I’m drawing on his skillset, and he said “serg, I hate the (RMS), why do you keep
giving me all the mispers?” and I said “cos you find them mate, within 2
hours!” With the local knowledge though, and he was off down the lanes...
P5: has he moved?!
P1: no, he’s still here... “she keeps giving me mispers!” (comedic pained voice)
P5: snorts with laughter
RMS = Record Management System
(the missing person report system)
- Sergeant Focus Group
Assessment
(initial &
rolling)
Risk
management
Risk
Mitigation
Appropriate
grading
throughout
“stopping is the big thing particularly if its
been in the papers a lot and all that stuff,
it’s like, we need to keep doing stuff” –
PolSA Focus Group
Scrutiny
(good
practice
recognition)
Family kept
informed &
happy
Comply
with force
policy
Process
Success
(Job well
done)
Having &
Following
SOP
‘Right’
from the
start
Consistently
good
Procedure Optimisation
“ to the
End of
the world”
Positive
Media
Internal/prof
scrutiny &
review
investigative
approach
Best we
could with
what we
have
“We’ve really tried to strive
towards that quality investigation
every time” – Case Study SME
interview
“if we’ve actually done the investigation properly, we’ve
marked up (RMS) in the right way, we’ve followed all the
fast track actions that we had and we’ve found the child
quickly, for me that’s a successful missing persons
investigation”
– Case Study SME interview
Understand
why – inform
future practice
Preventative
success
“That’s the long term part that can
be put in place, after the short
term rushing around” – Sergeant
Focus group
Detection
Prevent
missing
instances
Reduce numbers
Safeguarding
– threat,
harm and risk
Support
partners
to prevent
Preemptive
A Good
Return
Repeat
missing
intelligence
Disrupt
Real-time
& proactive
Prevent
self harm
Prevent/stop
victimisation
get right
people
“ I think success would be empowering people to make a difference in preventing
people from going missing” – National SME interview
“A success story for me is if you’ve got someone who’s gone a
few times and then sufficient safeguarding is put in place and
you don’t hear from them again, and you don’t notice it, but all
those people hours aren’t spent anymore cos whatever the
problem was, you’ve got to the bottom of it and sorted it so, its
not just finding them, it’s getting to the reason why they are
doing it”
- Sergeant Focus Group
community
impact
reduction
Impact
success
Limit neg.
impact –
‘signal’
Awareness of
missing &
police role
Good
Relationship:
Missing
Person
Public
trust
Family
reassured &
feel
supported
Legitimacy Trust
Support
Shared
vision with
partners
Family
trust in
police
Giving the
missing
person a
voice
“so its not like “oh we found
you, you know, that’s it, ta-ra,
its to show that we care...”
– PC Focus Group
“we’ve done all we can, and
explained it very carefully and
gently to the family and they accept
that we have done all we can, and
all the family expect of us – or given
reason that that’s not possible”
– National SME interview
“it doesn’t matter how well you’ve dealt
with the 32000 other ones, if that’s what’s
in the public’s consciousness there’s going
to be that question mark over whether the
police know what they are doing, that’s a
major challenge, of public perception”
– National Lead Interview
“Home care managers said they are starting to get a different
relationship with the kids because they don’t automatically call the
police, well that’s brilliant....the success there isn’t just that we have
had 10 less calls, but if a child has got a different relationship with
those that are caring for them then that’s great”
– Case Study SME interview
Geographic variance in success construction (Provisional Findings):
(all themes are universal, but some seem to appear more prominently in one
location over the other)
Strathshire
Holmshire
• Process Success – Optimisation,
scrutiny and Risk management
• Impact Success: Supporting families,
shared vision with partners & public
legitimacy
• Prevention: (Safeguarding)
Detection/disruption of CSE and
Disruption of gang association
• (prevent missing) – demand reduction
• Support – relationship with missing
person
• Only place explicit – get off system &
relationship with missing person
Product of localised policy
development/ application?
W
H
Y
?
Proximity to ‘signal’ events such
as Rotherham CSE case?
Demand?
SO WHAT? ... May explain localised success of certain policy or practice reform over others,
An indication of ‘easy wins?’ – need frontline to be on board for change to stick, so tailor to already held
notions.
May indicate where reinforcement of force policy or further training is required.
Challenges in my framing of policing success
Process I chose lead to groupings as presented but it may not be
politically/policy optimal
• Subsuming of family and loved one related themes into other groupings.
• Alternate global themes possible: Family – Missing person –
Organisational – Community – Partnership/ Prevent – Protect –
Respond – Support (as per Scot Gov, 2017 – but those were multiagency themes)
• Impact and prevent could also have been outcome successes – I
chose to elevate because of prior literature
• I chose most useful for my needs, linked to prior literature and what
though most universally useful to police practitioners
• Omitted ‘key factors for ensuring success’ and ‘motivations’ for success’ in
this analysis
“Success is ongoing and shared by all relevant agencies”
– National SME interview
Photo Credit: Amy Humphrey – local LSAR team river search for missing
elderly male
[email protected]
Twitter: @amyl21
Attride-Stirling, J., (2001) Thematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative
research, Qualitative Research, Vol 1 (3), pp.385-405
Brookman, F., & Innes, M. (2013) The problem of success: What is a ‘good’
homicide investigation?, Policing and Society, 23:3, 292-310, DOI:
10.1080/10439463.2013.771538
Fielding, N. ,& Innes, M. (2006) Reassurance Policing, Community Policing and
Measuring Police Performance Policing & Society, Vol. 16(2), pp. 127-145
National Crime Agency (2014) Missing Persons Data Analysis: 2012/13
National Crime Agency (2016), Missing Persons Data Report 2014/15
Scottish Government (2015), A consultation on working together for
people who go missing in Scotland:
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/08/9749
Scottish Government (2017), National Missing Persons Framework for
Scotland: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/05/1901/0