Behind the numbers

Acting Sergeant Lee Johnson has been a police officer for almost seven years and, following the development of evidence-based policing over the past 12 months within Lincolnshire Police, he is now at the forefront of using research to improve practice within the force. While this could be seen as a major step forward, it could also be viewed as six years of lost potential – A/Sgt Johnson has an extensive background in research having graduated in criminology, attained a Masters degree on racism and ethnic tensions in prisons and worked as a researcher for Lincolnshire Police for a year before becoming a police officer in 2010. “I was almost told that I was over-qualified for frontline policing and I did find it a bit frustrating that I had these research skills and I wasn’t really putting them to use and it’s only since evidence-based policing has really taken off – I’ve only known about it for a year – that it’s come to the forefront. I think we’ve probably missed an opportunity to use research and the way it can be applied to better understand crime,” he said. Born and raised in Lincolnshire, he applied to the force after completing his degree at Leeds University, seeing the research role advertised locally. As a researcher and analyst he used his academic background to good effect by analysing incidents to create an anti-social behaviour database. However, he has been keen to take a more scientific approach to policing and wanted to get behind the quantitative statistics and understand why things happen as they do. “This is why I look at the dynamics of the incident and to better understand something you need to really get behind the figures and understand why things are as they are,” he explained. Around a year ago, A/Sgt Johnson joined an internal development project and learnt about the force’s interest in evidence-based policing. He was subsequently asked to lecture at the University of Lincoln in a collaboration between the university and Lincolnshire Police, but he was always keen to find a way to best use the skills he has. He has had an interest in morale and changes to the police structure since becoming a police officer. Following the imposition of cuts to police funding he was very keen to understand how the subsequent reduction in officer numbers would affect assaults on officers. He is currently undertaking doctorate research and has made that the focus of his study. His research will examine a number of known concepts in policing, such as occupational culture, legitimacy, the role of the police in modern society, the impact of drugs, alcohol and mental health, and see how they apply to assaults on officers. It has involved conducting a full-scale literature review on the subject and bringing together all of Lincolnshire Police’s quantitative data from 2011 to 2015 to be able to delve into the figures and better understand the background and underlying factors. A/Sgt Johnson has undertaken participant observation through witnessing incidents while on duty as a frontline officer and acting sergeant, taking the circumstances and how incidents escalated to be used as field notes and case studies. He has interviewed 12 serving police officers about their experiences of being assaulted and what factors they think are important in explaining assaults. The findings are being drawn together and, while they are based purely within Lincolnshire Police, A/Sgt Johnson believes they will be relevant across other forces and could apply to police confidence and legitimacy, which are national issues. “Some of the underlying background factors will be unique to Lincolnshire, with it being a big rural county with a mixture of urban centres, some of the factors linking to assaults will be generalised to comparable forces. The essential factors behind assaults – the cultures, the legitimacy, the role of the police, how we tackle drugs, alcohol and mental health and confront violence is part of the policing ethos around the country.” A draft of the findings is expected to be com