Policing Vulnerable People and Vulnerable Places

Supported by the James Smart Memorial Trust and the Scottish Government, the theme of the conference was Policing Vulneable People and Vulnerable Places, with contributions from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson, MSP, the Chair of the Scottish Police Authority, Andrew Flanagan, the Deputy Chief Constable Designate, Neil Richardson, QPM, OBE, and Professor Monica den Boer, Director of SeQure Research.

The police have always performed an important role in protecting vulnerable groups and deploying resources to high risk environments. With falls in volume crime and continuing austerity, however, the increasing importance of the police acting as a 24 hour blue light social service is ever more apparent.

For example, the police are now regularly the first point of contact for those in mental distress, receive a report of a missing person every two minutes, and are being called upon to investigate an increasing number of complex crimes related to issues of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

Against this background the conference focused on the nature and challenges of policing vulnerable people and vulnerable places.

The conference was Chaired by Paddy Tomkins, Director of Droman Ltd and former Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland.

PROGRAMME

Download the Printed Programme [** Mb]

Presentation of the James Smart Memorial Medal. (l to r) Paddy Tomkins (Chair), Andrew Flanagan (SPA), Iain MacLeod (IESIS), Monica den Boer, DCC Neil Richardson (Police Scotland), Nick Fyfe (SIPR)

Plenary Session

Chair: Paddy Tomkins QPM, Droman Ltd

09.30  Chair’s Welcome
09.40  Michael Matheson MSP Cabinet Secretary for Justice
09.50  Andrew Flanagan Chair, Scottish Police Authority
10.00  DCC Neil Richardson QPM, OBE Deputy Chief Constable Designate, Police Scotland
Introduction to the 43rd James Smart Memorial Lecture and welcome to
the speaker

10.10  The 43rd James Smart Memorial Lecture Professor Monica den Boer, Director of
SeQure Research Policing the Vulnerable in Europe: Trends and Avenues

Text of the presentation
10.50  Questions and Discussion
Vote of thanks by Professor Nicholas Fyfe

11.15  Tea / Coffee and Displays

Workshop I Policing Vulnerable People and Vulnerable Places

11.45 – 13.15  Participants will be able to choose from the following selection of Workshops

MISSING PERSONS I

VENUE : Pentland West

Chair: Amy Humphrey (University of Dundee)

• Dr Penny Woolnough (Abertay University) Missing and Vulnerability: Inextricably linked
• Kerry Wade & Lisa Batkin (Gwent Missing Children Team) How we were Missing the Missing and Missing the Risk
• Sgt Vanessa Rolfe (West Yorkshire Police) The Herbert Protocol: Safe & Found
• Lucy Holmes (Missing People and University of Portsmouth ) Dementia and Missing: Fear, prevention, response and resolution

POLICING AND MENTAL HEALTH

VENUE : Pentland East

Chair: Peter Wilson (Scottish Policing International)

• Inga Heyman (Robert Gordon University) Black, White and Grey -The pathways and interface between police, those in mental health distress and emergency health services
• Dr Ed Hall (University of Dundee) Enhancing Police Scotland’s Response to Disability Hate Crime
• Midj Falconer (Robert Gordon University) Resilience and well being of officers in police forces

POLICING VULNERABILITY

VENUE : Prestonfield

Chair: Chief Superintendent Lesley Boal (Police Scotland)

• Sgt Neil Wilson & A.N. Other (Police Scotland) A multi-agency response to the intravenous use of New Psychoactive Substances in Edinburgh
• Craig Johnson (Durham Constabulary) & Susan Burn (College of Policing) All about Trust
• Graham Vance (Scottish Business Resilience Centre) Financial Harm – Outcomes for Victims
• Rob Skinner (Heriott-Watt University) Empowering the interpreted mediated interview

13.15  Buffet Lunch

Workshop II Policing Vulnerable People and Vulnerable Places

14.00 – 15.30  Participants will be able to choose from the following selection of Workshops

MISSING PERSONS II

VENUE : Pentland Wes

Chair: Dr Penny Woolnough (Abertay University)

• Katherine Byrne & Gordon Paterson (Strategy Unit: Police Division, Scottish Government) National Missing Persons Strategy: Working Together for People who go Missing in Scotland
• Lucy Holmes (Missing People and University of Portsmouth) Police Search Advisers (PolSAs) and the search for missing people: Results of a UK-wide survey
• Amy Humphrey (University of Dundee) Performance and Good Practice, and Success in Policing Contributions to Missing Persons

POLICING VULNERABLE PLACES

VENUE : Pentland East

Chair: Tina Ward (Principal Analyst, Police Scotland)

Further details of this series of presentations by Police Scotland on tools for helping with policing of vulnerable individuals

• CS Barry McEwan (Police Scotland) Introduction
• Tina Ward (Police Scotland) Scottish Operational and Management Information System (ScOMIS)
• Scott Hamilton (Police Scotland) Business Intelligence Toolkit
• Gordon Tyler & Ross Eden (Police Scotland) GridView
• Naomi Dockray (Police Scotland) Repeat Caller/Demand Analysis

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

VENUE : Prestonfield

Chair: Professor Lesley McMillan (Glasgow Caledonian University)

• Katy Proctor (Glasgow Caledonian University) Stalking in Scotland; Investigating the Invisible
• Elaine McLaughlin (Glasgow Caledonian University) A police response to women with an insecure immigration status experiencing domestic abuse
• Maureen Taylor (Glasgow Caledonian University) Group-associated child sexual exploitation: Exploring the networks

Reception

15.30  Reception, hosted by DCC Neil Richardson QPM, OBE

16.30  Conference closes

This Conference is being organised by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research in partnership with:

The John McIntyre Centre, Pollock Halls

The James Smart Memorial Lecturer: Professor Monica den Boer, Director of SeQure Research

Professor Monica den Boer is Director of SeQure Research and Consultancy and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (PICT) at Macquarie University, Sydney. Between 2003 and 2015, she held a variety of positions at the Police Academy of The Netherlands in conjunction with a Chair of Comparative Public Administration at the VU University Amsterdam. Since 2003 she has been a Member of the Committee on European Integration of the Advisory Council on International Affairs. She obtained a PhD in 1990 from the European University Institute and worked at Edinburgh University, the Netherlands Study Centre for Crime and Law Enforcement, the European Institute of Public Administration, Tilburg University, and the European Institute of Law Enforcement Co-operation. In 2009-2010, she was a member of the Dutch Iraq Investigation Committee, and in 2009-2010 she participated in the Defence Future Survey Group. She has published widely on European internal security co-operation and engages in teaching, coaching as well as supervision.