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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:45 am
Time: 12:45 am
Results for communication skills
2 results foundAuthor: Wheller, Levin Title: The Greater Manchester Police Procedural Justice Training Experiment: Technical Report Summary: This technical report outlines the design, methods and results of a two-group randomized control trial undertaken in Greater Manchester Police (GMP) between September 2011 and June 2012. It follows the CONSORT 2010 structure for reporting trials. In parallel with this report the College of Policing is publishing a practitioner paper with a greater focus on the high level findings, key implications and practical considerations for policing that arise from this work. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) decided to introduce a new training programme on communication skills following concern among Chief Officers that the force was underperforming compared to its most similar group of forces with regards to levels of victim satisfaction. An opportunity was identified through ongoing collaboration with the Research Analysis and Information Unit (RAI) to evaluate the impact of any new training intervention in GMP. Through discussions with RAI, GMP became interested in piloting an innovative training programme focussed on enhancing practical communication skills of frontline uniformed officers. The College of Policing has worked in collaboration with GMP to design the evaluation methodology, and - drawing on findings from a recent review of training and behavior change - the scenario based learning element of the course. An external provider developed the classroom content of the training course in collaboration with GMP. The trial was also a good opportunity to add to the growing body of research on the procedural justice model, which looks at the reasons why people cooperate with the police and do not break the law. While the relationships in the procedural justice model have been examined in survey data gathered from a range of different contexts (e.g. Australia, Ghana, Jamaica), relatively little attention had previously been paid so far to how to improve public perceptions of police procedural fairness. Given this gap in the research evidence, and the potential benefits of the police adopting a more procedurally just approach, this trial offered a valuable opportunity to test the impact of a communication skills training on the way officers interact with members of the public and to establish if training could lead to improvements in public perceptions of procedural fairness. Details: Ryton-on-Dunsmore, UK: College of Policing, 2013. 74p.; Practitioner Paper Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 20, 2014 at: http://www.college.police.uk/en/docs/Technical_Report_Final.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.college.police.uk/en/docs/Technical_Report_Final.pdf Shelf Number: 131991 Keywords: Communication SkillsPolice TrainingPolice-Citizen InteractionsPolice-Community RelationsPolicingProcedural Justice |
Author: Wheller, Levin Title: The Greater Manchester Police procedural justice training experiment: the impact of communication skills training on officers and victims of crime Summary: A growing body of research has shown that people's motivations to cooperate with the police and not break the law are shaped more by feeling the police have legitimate authority, and share the same values, than by people's perceived risk of being caught and punished. Given public perceptions of fair treatment are at the root of police legitimacy, improved police-public interactions over the long term could help reduce crime. There is limited evidence on which interventions can improve public perceptions of fair treatment by the police. The Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) reported in this paper tested the impact of training on the perceived quality of interactions between the police and crime victims in Greater Manchester. The intervention focused on developing officers' practical communication skills. In total, 339 officers were randomly assigned to the treatment group (to receive the training) and 237 to the control group (to not receive the training). As the officers were assigned at random, differences between the groups after the training can be directly attributed to the intervention. RCTs are considered the 'gold standard' in evaluation research as they can establish 'cause and effect' relationships. Main findings Officer attitudes An online survey measured officer attitudes post-training. The intervention was found to have had a positive effect on four out of eight possible outcomes, with no effect on the remaining four. Officers in the treatment group were more likely than those in the control group to: hold positive views about delivering quality of service; recognise the value of building empathy and rapport with victims; and report making decisions that involved victims in the process. Officer behaviour Officer behaviour was assessed post-training in a realistic role-play exercise. The intervention was found to have had a positive impact, with officers in the treatment group scoring significantly higher than those in the control group on a 'quality of interaction' scale. In terms of fair treatment, these officers were more likely to give victims a choice about how the incident was to be dealt with (a 14 percentage point difference). A higher proportion were also rated as 'good/excellent' in terms of their overall performance (48% compared to 22%). Victim perceptions An existing force survey was used to measure the perceptions of crime victims who had contact with officers in the trial. The intervention was found to have had a significant positive effect on a 'quality of interaction' scale. No effect was found for overall victim satisfaction and willingness to cooperate with the police. Given that most victims were already satisfied and cooperative, it was unlikely the training could produce an effect size large enough to be detected by the survey. It is possible, therefore, that the training might have had a bigger effect in more challenging encounters where public perceptions of the police are more varied. Conclusions The trial showed that training which seeks to teach officers a series of practical techniques and improve their general communication skills can be effective at improving the victim experience. While some of the effects were relatively small, the overall pattern of results points consistently to training having had a positive impact on outcomes. Findings from across the outcome measures suggest that - rather than officers adopting specific techniques or skills they were taught on the course - training instead encouraged a more general shift in the way officers approached interactions with the public. Officers in the treatment group developed a greater awareness of the need to listen to and empathise with victims of crime - resulting in improved public perceptions. Details: Ryton-on-Dunsmore, UK: College of Policing, 2013. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 9, 2016 at: http://whatworks.college.police.uk/Research/Documents/GMP%20Practitioner_Paper_Final.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://whatworks.college.police.uk/Research/Documents/GMP%20Practitioner_Paper_Final.pdf Shelf Number: 138148 Keywords: Communication Skills Police BehaviorPolice Training Police-Citizen InteractionsPolice-Community Relations Policing Procedural Justice |