National operating model – explainer

Betsy
The National Operating Model for the investigation of rape and serious sexual offences is here to support police forces nationwide to radically change and improve the way they investigate these offences and interact with victims.

Katrin
We want to change what officers do day to day. This change must happen throughout any one force, across Officer ranks, staff and even the organisation of specialist units such as those dealing with offender management and domestic abuse. Oversight from police and Crime Commissioners and the third sector must be informed oversight. The National Operating Model's mechanisms for assessment will assist senior police leaders, police and crime commissioners and the public to assess investigation improvements.

Betsy
At its operational core is the investigator's journey, which serves as a non prescriptive guide to investigation. There is also a range in this model of guides toolkits to support investigators to keep victims rights and needs at its heart.

Katrin
The National Operating Model was developed out of our frustrations that despite of decades of research reviews and attempts at reform, so few rapes result in a suspect being charged and victims continue to experience the investigation process as traumatic and unjust.

Betsy
Over the past two years, the police service and stakeholders have worked with us and developed a shared understanding of the kinds of corporate policing problems that hinder best investigations.

Katrin
Our mantra is that investigation should be suspect focused, victim centred and context led.

Betsy
Using these three principles, we have already seen improvements in the investigation outcomes of many participating forces.

Katrin
A victim centred, suspect focused and context led investigation represents a balanced and holistic approach to investigations. It centres the rights and needs of victims, focuses on sound investigation of all of a suspect's relevant offending behaviour, and considers the specific context of each case. These principles and materials contained in the National Operating Model are there to ensure that victim rights, needs and wishes don't get lost along the way.

Betsy
The principle of victim-centred underscores the importance of keeping victims at the heart throughout the entire investigation process. This should result in fair investigations with less room for rape myths and stereotypes to bias investigations. Research undertaken to underpin this model showed that investigations often over focused on scrutinising the credibility of victims and left victims feeling that they were under investigation, not the suspect.

Katrin
The suspect focus principle recognises the significance of conducting thorough and fair investigations that gather evidence and scrutinise the actions of suspects. The National Operating Model supports officers to develop and apply with confidence knowledge of sexual offending behaviour to identify relevant lines of inquiry.

Betsy
The context-led principle acknowledges that wider circumstances provide the key frame within which rape or sexual offences happen. By considering the broader social, cultural and situational factors of relationships surrounding each offence, investigators can gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics involved, the impact on the victim and assessing the suspect's offending behaviour when applying the legal standard.

Katrin
We created an evidence informed framework called the Five Pillars framework then morphed to six pillars based on a wealth of existing research, survivor voices and what we have learned through the years of UK-wide and global research and in Betsy's case, decades of working with and within policing. Then we conducted the largest ever research project on how police in England and Wales investigate rape to date.

Katrin
The national operating model is organised into five interconnected layers; the vision, flight deck, strategic layer, operational layer and foundational enablers.

Betsy
The layers of the national model are intricately linked and part of a holistic approach to improvement, and their successful implementation relies on the coordination and synergy between them. All layers work together and are critical to improvement in investigations going forward. Each layer serves a specific purpose within the police service. Investigators, supervisors and senior officers overseeing the strategic oversight will find useful practise and strategic guidance into what good looks like. The Community Oversight Boards will be able to ask good questions in the investigations in cases of rape and sexual offences. Police forces will be able to draw on resources to improve the wellbeing of officers and uplift their learning and development. The investigator's journey provides insight tools and guidance on RASSO investigations.