3.31 Operation Soteria Bluestone (year 2)

Operation Soteria Bluestone, the national research programme that seeks to improve the police investigation and response to rape and serious sexual assault (RASSO), has moved into a second year of research to further support the work stream concerned with the embedding of officer learning, development and wellbeing in this area.

The aims of this strand of the research programme are threefold: first, to enhance the level of domain/practice relevant expert knowledge delivered to all officers involved in RASSO investigation and to develop an iterative learning environment where individual, group and organizational reflective practice is a central pillar to linking learning, practice, and outcomes. Second, to enhance officers’ competence and confidence (with a view to improving outcomes) when dealing with RASSO and embed meaningful discussions about officer welfare through effective reflection and trauma informed supervision processes and capable supervisors. Finally, to build an understanding of RASSO demand in targeted forces in order to develop insights and models to inform improvements in force workforce planning (both capacity and capability) within those forces and to identify generalisable learning for wider application.  

The project will welcome an additional 14 expansion forces which will bring the total number of forces participating in the research up to 19.

Outputs