Policing Public Protection: A Companion Guide

This book explores the effective policing of public protection issues, from chapter authors with varied research and practitioner experience. The collection is aimed at detective police officers in specialist units, response and neighbourhood officers, as well as new recruits in policing public protection. Each chapter offers an understanding of victimology, perpetration, and the effective policing and investigation of such crimes. It explores questions such as why crimes happen, who the victims are, what perpetrators do, and why they might target certain victims. This book explores international literature, the evidence base, past mistakes, and what effective and professional policing should ’look like’. The intention is to improve the policing and investigation of such complex crimes. Each chapter provides a concise summary, a comprehensive literature review, and a list of key actions for practice that officers should consider. It closes with a list of key resources. These chapters specifically cover the following thematic crime areas such as domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, gendered violence, and trafficking. This book also speaks to local authorities (Social Services, Trading Standards), professionals in Education, Health and Probation, academics, and Non-Government Organisations (NGO) in the charitable sector.

Dr Rachael Aplin is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Leeds Law School at Leeds Beckett University, UK. She has twenty-years’ experience as a detective officer with Greater Manchester Police (1994-2016), UK. Her roles included working in Child Protection, the Major Incident Team, Force Intelligence Branch, Crime Training and as a Domestic Abuse lead within a Public Protection Unit. Her previous book is Policing UK Honour Based Abuse Crime (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).