Data collection and analysis

The data for this case study took a variety of different forms and was collected from a variety of sources. Each source of data used in this case study is discussed below.

Quantitative data on OCGM

OCGM does not result in the production of an assessment in documentary form;

hence there were no written assessments available for traditional content analysis.

Instead, OCGM produces quantitative data. As such, one of the most meaningful ways of exploring OCGM was to study its quantitative outputs and then attempt to

50

“reverse-engineer” such data to uncover the concepts, categories and mentalities implicit within it.

Data from OCGM is released by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) on an annual basis. Taking the form of large Excel spreadsheets, the data provides a breakdown of the number of organised crime groups mapped by

individual police forces across the UK. This data is, in turn, broken-down by the type of crime those groups are believed to be involved in. Clearly, this data is not the whole story; it is not a comprehensive overview of all the data generated by OCGM.

However, the available data provided a valuable insight into the conceptualisations built into the assessment process; it was, like all data, “theory-laden” (Bottoms, 2008, pg 100, Sayer, 1992, pg 51, Layder 1998), meaning that through “reverse-engineering”, it became possible to trace the implicit theories of those who produced and used the assessment. This was achieved by simply extracting the column and row headings from the data-sets and then analysing those headings as categories; as ways of ordering things; as ways of thinking about the organised crime problem.

HMIC police inspection reports

Beyond looking at OCGM data itself, there was a need to gain a broad understanding of its use as an assessment across the UK. Given the difficulties of gaining access to police organised crime units and the impracticality of interviewing officers from all UK forces, an innovative new data source was identified. Every year, police forces in England and Wales are inspected by HMIC (Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own, equivalent inspectorates) across a number of areas. In recent years this has come to include “serious and organised crime”. As part of these reviews, HMIC inspectors examine how effective and efficient local police forces are at using the OCGM assessment. Their findings, often including details of the assessment process itself, are then published in annual “PEEL” reports for each police force. Content analysis of these reports provided substantial insights into how OCGM works within each police force, what it is for, and how police forces actually use the assessment.

Importantly, because these “PEEL” reports are generated from an inspection process, they do not “gloss-over” flawed or negative aspects of how the assessment is

produced. A total of 129 HMIC inspection reports were collected for every police force in England and Wales for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 and analysed using Nvivo. Initially, any reference to OCGM was coded for future analysis.

51 Official reports, reviews, policy documents and strategic documents

A number of other official documents were able to provide an insight to OCGM. A number of key repositories were searched for material relating to OCGM, including the College of Policing’s Police Library, online publication repositories of the National Crime Agency, the Home Office, the National Police Chief’s Council (formerly the Association of Chief Police Officers – ACPO), the Police Foundation, Police Scotland and HMIC. This produced an eclectic but useful range of documents which are listed in Appendix B. These included articles in police publications, reviews of strategic policing arrangements, project reports, organised crime strategy papers and evidence reports to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee, amongst others. This evidence was analysed using Nvivo, with relevant material coded to loose categories such as “historical background”, “use”, “method” and “unit of analysis”. Such a coding process was somewhat unsystematic, but the purpose of this analysis was to identify relevant material and then use it to generate new ideas. In other words, the aim in this case was not to draw highly reliable conclusions, but to prompt original theoretical insights which could be refined and tested later.

Freedom of Information requests

Following analysis of the material described in the above sections, a number of key knowledge-gaps were identified – particularly in relation to how and why OCGM was introduced in the first place. In order to fill these gaps, targeted Freedom of Information (FOI) requests were made to the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) with the aim of securing the release of further information. The NPCC was the subject of these requests since it was deemed that they would be most likely to hold the relevant information. These requests were largely successful and resulted in the release of documentary records which provided more detailed insight into the origins of the OCGM assessment.

Each different item of data – whether it be a document, a spreadsheet, or information released through a FOI request – was given a unique reference number, stored

electronically and then recorded in a case study database. A simplified version of this database can be seen in Appendix B. Using the protocol as a guide, the data was

52 systematically reviewed using NVivo. A set of simple, pre-defined categories were used to code relevant material. These codes can be seen in Table 4, below:

Table 4: Coding categories for the OCGM case study Coding category Description

USAGE Material relating to the use of OCGM

DATA Material relating to the data used in OCGM

METHOD Material relating to the method used in OCGM UNIT OF

ANALYSIS

Material relating to the unit of analysis upon which OCGM is focused

CONCEPT OF OC Material relating to OCGM’s underlying conceptualisation of organised crime PROBLEM OF OC Material relating to OCGM’s underlying

problematisation of organised crime

MODE OF GOV Material relating to the mode of governance implied by OCGM

HISTORY Material relating to the “backstory” of OCGM; it’s history and development

The material coded under these categories forms the basis of the following sections.