Police Attitudes in England to Return Interviews, in Repeat Missing Person Cases

Harris, Michael F.; Harris, Michael F; Shalev Greene, Karen

Abstract

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The aim of this article is to examine the attitudes of English police officers to return interviews of people who are reported missing repeatedly (e.g. three times or more). In addition to a brief police ‘Safe & Well Check’ a return interview is also carried out by a police officer and seeks to find out where people went and why, in order to identify potential risks to their safety and whether they experienced harm whilst they were missing. A mixed-methods survey of 50 constables from one police force in England ran in March 2014, using quantitative and open qualitative questions. Key themes that emerged were individual frustration at repetition, negativity around usefulness of the interviews, a challenge to involve third sector partners, and development areas in training. Statistical significance was found in variables relating to officer experience and gender, against views on interviewing missing people. The article looks at the limited existing literature and makes recommendations about best practice with return interviews, advocating a multi-agency approach to improve interventions, and better training to improve positivity towards missing people. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2015
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Sep 7, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling
• Print ISSN: 1544-4759
• Electronic ISSN: 1544-4767
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 253-266
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1455
• Keywords: missing people, public protection, police interviews, police culture, gender
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/914957
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jip.1455
• Related Public URLs: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
• Contract Date: Sep 7, 2017