Going equipped issue six

Welcome to issue six of Going equipped. As always, this issue is full of informative articles by colleagues across the country. You’ll find a wide variety of topics inside, from drones through to projects about protecting sex workers and using defensive planting to deter residential burglary.

Our first long read – by Sgt Lee Johnson from Lincolnshire – focuses on assaults on officers and describes the likelihood of violence against police officers based on place, activity and factors such as gender. This is a really interesting read that links to Op Hampshire and the work of Oscar Kilo the national service for officer and staff wellbeing.

The second long read is by Chief Inspector Kate Firman from Cambridgeshire. Her article examines the concept of procedural justice, with a focus on people’s subjective experiences of their interactions with power holders, like police officers. Based on research in custody suites, this excellent article considers how custody sergeants interact with detainees and explores the impact we can have in our roles.

Elsewhere, we include insights on how being a child of deaf parents can lead to informal interpretation for emergency services, deep dives into the drugs expert witness and stolen vehicle examiner roles, and an article following a domestic abuse innovation officer’s shift in Durham. We also have an excellent book review, which will have you hooked in no time on the gloomy but fascinating world of disaster victim identification. I certainly couldn’t put this book down!

The Going equipped editorial board were delighted to be awarded a CEO commendation from Chief Constable Andy Marsh at the College of Policing in April 2023 for all our work bringing together the content for you to read. We couldn’t do it without our authors though, so thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. If you’d like to write an article or be a peer reviewer in the future, please do contact the team on [email protected].