CODING AND EMERGENT THEMES/CATEGORIES
5.3 Increasing practitioner training and awareness
All interview participants suggested that both training and long-term experience had been fundamental in increasing their understanding in relation to the effects of trauma and memory and how this might impact on evidence giving. This section discusses sexual trauma training undertaken by the participants and how they see this to being at the core of what they know and how it has changed their attitudes and increased their empathy when dealing with these cases. The training has allowed for acceptance that individuals may be finding it difficult to go through the process of evidence giving. There is a National Strategy for training in investigative interviewing but interviewees made no reference to this training but were enthusiastic about the specialist rape-training workshop given to them by an external trainer26. Police participants agreed that the training they had undertaken regarding rape trauma had an impact on their understanding. This understanding was evidenced by their use of related terminology and recognition of some of the symptoms of PTSD. Police participants referred to ‘Rape Trauma’. This term accurately describes general reactions to rape and sexual assault and is seen as a familiar response given the crime committed. Milne et al. (2007) also point to the need for trainers to have knowledge of appropriate interviewing methods and in identifying vulnerable/intimidated witnesses. Griffiths and Milne (2006) suggest that interviewers’ skills levels and knowledge should be monitored regularly and on going mentoring and supervision should be in place.
26The training workshop was provided by Zoe Lodrick a specialist trainer in the area of rape and
sexual abuse. She has also provided services to Association of Chief Police Officers) (ACPO) Rape Support Programme.
As Fiona suggests:
‘The training is fundamental to what we know. I think everyone should have it. It has helped me make sense of a number of things’.
5.3.1 Recognising gaps in training
The participants inferred that there were differences in the amount of training individuals were given and this appears to be dependent on the level of involvement in interviewing victims of crime. All participants suggested that more training would be useful. Richard, a Detective Superintendent implied training had been limited in the past and would appear that specialist training in dealing specifically with rape and sexual violence would appear to be ‘ad hoc’.
‘As I said, the actual input to us within our detective training has been very limited so we would then look at the process of bringing in people to assist us, such as the SARC and then rely on them to have completed the training and then report back to us’ (RICHARD). Fiona also draws on the training that she has undertaken to question the witness’s presentation and difficulties in remembering her experience:
‘And she recalls she was drunk. I don’t know the reason why she can’t remember. I’ve got a toxicology report saying that this person was so intoxicated that that could be associated with blackouts and memory loss. And yet from my very, very basic sexual offences training course that I went on last year, in the back of mind I’m thinking, “Well is it that? Or is it this rape trauma?” And I’m swaying towards the trauma side of it because of the fact that she’s had the flashbacks and something’ (FIONA).
The training had allowed a better understanding and an acceptance when more complex presentations of trauma are present. Participants suggested that the training had resulted in changing their previously held assumptions and their understanding regarding rape victims. They remarked that they had previously not understood why victims might not fight back and why they wouldn’t report to police.
‘I know in the past I might have thought ‘you would tell the police, you would if this happened to you, you would tell somebody’. But in reality, unless you’ve experienced it you just cannot say that. You cannot say how people are affected by the trauma and an experience like that’ (RICHARD)
Andy, who is not involved with interviewing victims for trial but is very often the Policeman who is first at the scene and has to take down an initial statement, also suggested that training had changed earlier understandings.
‘The training has changed my mind about a number of things…. I think everyone should have the training… People within the system tend to ask questions when a victim presents in a calm way ... and its easy to think, well, if something has happened they’d have been upset, like how I would have reacted in that situation. I wouldn’t have been like that …. but through the training we’ve had, we’ve come to understand that this is one of the ways that they can present’. (ANDY).
As his quotation shows, there is the impression that others are less knowledgeable.
5.3.2 Valuing experience
As well as training, long-term specialist experience was also considered as integral to the understanding of the impact of trauma. Paul has been a specialist working with child protection within the police and unlike the other participants has been in his role for many years. As Paul emphasises in his interview:
‘I’ve been working in the area of child protection for many years. That’s all I’ve focused on so I’ve seen some things in my time and I know how differently individuals can react’ (PAUL)
Paul was not directly working in the South Wales area and was concerned as the system was changing in his area and this type of work was being opened up to officers as part of their general duties rather than being a specialised area. He questioned whether this would be beneficial for police or for witnesses. Paul also emphasised the need for specific experience in dealing with cases of historical abuse because of the complexities of the cases, arguing that the issues that these raise may be difficult for other officers working generically to properly understand:
‘I really believe that you need experience in relation to dealing with historic cases and I believe this so much since doing this job. It’s knowing about the evidence that is important as well, you know, the evidence of disclosure, the evidence of school records from these people, although it may have happened a long, long, time ago. You need to know where to go and look for it. If you are experienced as myself, in dealing with this sort of work, I now know. I can imagine now that I’m going to get an awful lot of other officers that are not going to really know exactly where to go with their enquiries.’ (PAUL) Quotations highlight respondents’ frustration that other officers do not fully understand how and why a victim may present as they do. Katrina emphasises her frustration at attitudes and misunderstandings of other police officers when discussing a particular case used for the purpose of the training regarding a man who had been raped:
‘It was on CCTV, but then when officers went around, the witness denied it. From my understanding I could understand some of the reasons why he might deny it, but the men in the room were like ‘no, I’d fight. Definitely I’d fight’. I was like, ‘no, you’re not listening, like it does make sense. It’s just that sort of macho attitude isn’t it? No I don’t want to believe that. So they don’t. (KATRINA)
These quotations would add to the fact that not all police officers appear to have undertaken the same level of training and are not always in a specialist post for a long period of time so that they can gain this specialist knowledge. Some reforms have been suggested but in practice there still appear to be inconsistencies (Poyser and Milne, 2015). Following the Independent Review into the Investigation and Prosecution of Rape in London by the Rt Hon Dame Elish Angiolini, DBE QC, a recommendation was to provide a specialist rape investigators’ training course and qualification to ensure quality of specific sexual offences training enabling individuals to fully undertake this role. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) consulting with the National College of Policing and the MPS Crime Academy to commence this training and to introduce a national qualification that provides a consistent approach to training on a national level and fits with the ABE best practice guidance (Home Office, 2002). It is also recommended that all first responders would benefit from training regarding the difficulties for individuals in reporting a rape or sexual offence and an awareness of rape myths and how these can inadvertently affect initial responses (Dando et al. 2009).
5.3.3 Police training on investigative interviewing
It is also evident from the interviews that experience is an important factor in the understanding of complex cases and in developing the skills and confidence in the task of interviewing and managing the competing demands on Police. As highlighted in the literature, Dando et al. (2009) found that the current investigative interviewing model for witnesses, the cognitive interview procedure, in England and Wales was often not applied consistently or regularly27. They noted that this could be a result of time constraints and a difficulty in police officers applying it appropriately. There has been some criticism that the cognitive interview is a structured and rigid protocol that has specific steps to be covered. However, Fisher and Geiselman (1992) intended it to be a more flexible tool that could be tailored to individual needs and circumstances. As Clarke and Milne (2001) state it is not intended as a standardised approach and needs to be accurately matched with different investigative factors. Dando et al. (2009) suggest that police may lean towards more standardised interview techniques. Dando et al. (2009) devised an alternative method, namely a sketch plan mental reinstatement of context for less serious crimes as they found it to be less time consuming and relied less on police flexibility and application. This is particularly relevant for first line officers (Dando et al. (2009).
The next section of this chapter relates to what police consider to be barriers within the CJS.
27 Other models of investigative interviewing include the Conversation Management Model developed by Shepherd (1993) as requested by Merseyside Police. This was an approach mainly for suspect interviewing based on a more counselling style and was in line with the requirements of PACE (1984). The Cognitive Interview was developed by Geiselman and Fisher as a way of refining the witness interview. The enhanced form of the CI incorporates elements of the Conversation Management Model but has a focus on memory-enhancing techniques (Fisher and Geiselman, 1992; Heaton-Armstrong et al. 1999). The PEACE model provided a phased approach to interviewing for all officers and an instructional pamphlet and rulebook was produced (Central Planning and Training Unit, 1992a and 1992b). A revised model was published in Investigative Interviewing: A Practical Gide in 1996 and 1998 that comprised of four parts (principles of investigative interviewing, interview skills, the PEACE model, interviewing law and procedure) (Heaton- Armstrong et al. 1999).