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Relational Skills

Personnel need ongoing support to develop the appropriate skills, and critically the relational skills and confidence to successfully engage with a diverse range of victims.

Relational skills are considered important to enable personnel to capture the victim’s voice. Although it is recognised these skills can be difficult to ‘teach’, including the perspectives of those with lived experience into training could be helpful.

  • A complex mix of skills are required to work within policing. While empathy and compassion were highlighted as particularly important, participants felt these skills were not prioritised in recruitment.
  • There was a perception that personnel require an ability to be both empathic and compassionate but also able to deal with challenging situations. These skills were seen as distinct from each other, and personnel considered it is difficult for personnel to possess both qualities.

Personnel recognised the value of high-quality training and expressed a preference for more training to support them to capture the victim’s voice.

  • Training to support personnel in capturing the voice of the victim was limited within the sample.
  • Personnel expressed a desire for increased training to support them more effectively. 61% of personnel agreed/strongly agreed they would benefit from increased training.
  • Innate skills of personnel, rather than those developed through training, were however considered to be the most effective in capturing the victim voice.

 What are the VKPP doing?

  • VKPP are working closely with the College of Policing Professionalising Public Protection plans to consider this learning and how I can be woven through any future programmes.
  • VKPP are seeking to create guidance from The Voice of the Victim in Police Service Design research.

Any resources available now?