Harrison Naylor
Unit 3 1.1
Police officers
Police officers play a significant role in criminal investigations. They
respond to emergency calls, are the first to arrive at the scene of a crime,
make initial arrests and interview witnesses. A strength of police officers is
that they have multiple specialist departments. For example, forensic
units and dog handlers. The police will have a high level of expertise as a
result of their many departments. Within these departments, each officer
will have had the required training and education to carry out their job,
further increasing their ability to close a case. This a strength as the
police can investigate most crimes efficiently. Another strength is that
inspectorate (PEEL) reports are used to assess how well the police are
performing in each county. They focus on how well the police prevent and
investigate crime, protect vulnerable people, operate in an ethical manner
and how well they use their resources. For example, the PEEL report for
the Merseyside Police from 2023 to 2025 found that they did not perform
well in consistently answering emergency and non-emergency calls within
a suitable time limit. This was graded as an area for improvement.
Nevertheless, a positive was that they treat the public respectfully and
fairly. These inspectorate reports are a good way to enable the police to
constantly work towards a goal and improve their results annually,
improving their effectiveness. However, a weakness of the police is that
there may be a lack of public trust. For example, the metropolitan police
were found to be institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic
(Casey Report 2023). This resulted in many people in the UK losing trust
for the police. This would make the police less effective as people may not
report some crime (hate crime) as they believe it will not be acted on
effectively. A further weakness is that funding for the police decreased
30% in just 5 years (2010-2015). As a consequence, from 2010 to 2018,
there was an 18% reduction in the total personnel (possibly stemming
from poor pay and a stressful workload due to a lack of resources). This
created a lack of availability for the police, which is a weakness. A final
weakness is that police can be incompetent during criminal investigations.
An example of this is Wembley Park (2020). During an investigation, the
police were found to have ‘taken selfies’ with dead bodies and share these
images to WhatsApp. This is highly disrespectful and grave misconduct,
portraying their level of expertise as low. A case study to support their low
level of expertise is the Stephen Lawrence case. Stepehn Lawrence was
murdered in 1993 by a well-known racist gang in the area. Upon arriving
at the scene, police officers did not secure the crime scene properly,
, Harrison Naylor
dismissed witness statements and did not chase blatant leads. When the
suspects were detained, they were all placed in the same holding cell, and
evidence taken was handled poorly leading to contamination. The killers
were not convicted until 20 years after the murder due to the lack of
expertise the Metropolitan police had. Also, the Macpherson report found
them institutionally racist and made 70 recommendations of improvement
for the Metropolitan police.
Scene of Crime Officer
Scene of crime officers collect and conserve evidence taken from crime
scenes. This evidence is documented and used in an investigation. They
can record the scene using photographs or videos, secure the crime scene
and are very meticulous. A strength of SOCOs (scene of crime officers) is
that they are available every hour of the week as they are on call. This is
an advantage as crime scenes are time sensitive. A second strength is
their salary. Scene of crime officers earn from £24,000 to £45,000
annually. Despite the importance of their job, this pay is relatively low.
Therefore, they are very cost effective. However, a weakness of scene of
crime officers is that may lack the expertise needed for the job. For
example, to become a scene of crime officer the only qualifications
needed is a combination of relevant GCSEs and degrees in sciences
(forensic science) are only beneficial. This is a weakness as not every
officer will have the same education. This could lead to inconsistencies
within results. Furthermore, another weakness is that as a result of the
low availability of scene of crime officers, individuals have a high workload
and could suffer from stress. In forensics, being accurate and articulate
are both essential to reach a strong verdict. This would lead to a lower
expertise as they would be more likely to make mistakes. A third
weakness is that evidence can be easily contaminated. This can happen
when proper procedure is not followed correctly. For example, DNA could
be mixed. If evidence is contaminated, the whole criminal investigation
could collapse as there would be no pure evidence of the suspect being
linked to the crime being investigated. The evidence would be declared
inadmissible. A real-life event to support this is the Amanda Knox case. In
2007, Meredith Kercher was murdered in Italy. In 2009, Amanda Knox was
convicted for the murder of Kercher, her roommate. However, in 2011 to
2015, her conviction was overturned, reinstated then acquitted by Italy’s
highest court. This was a result of the scene of crime officers poorly
carried out investigation of the crime scene. The evidence was handled
poorly, they wore a lack of proper protective gear (caps and masks), and
unreliable DNA was found on a knife. The lack of protective gear could
Unit 3 1.1
Police officers
Police officers play a significant role in criminal investigations. They
respond to emergency calls, are the first to arrive at the scene of a crime,
make initial arrests and interview witnesses. A strength of police officers is
that they have multiple specialist departments. For example, forensic
units and dog handlers. The police will have a high level of expertise as a
result of their many departments. Within these departments, each officer
will have had the required training and education to carry out their job,
further increasing their ability to close a case. This a strength as the
police can investigate most crimes efficiently. Another strength is that
inspectorate (PEEL) reports are used to assess how well the police are
performing in each county. They focus on how well the police prevent and
investigate crime, protect vulnerable people, operate in an ethical manner
and how well they use their resources. For example, the PEEL report for
the Merseyside Police from 2023 to 2025 found that they did not perform
well in consistently answering emergency and non-emergency calls within
a suitable time limit. This was graded as an area for improvement.
Nevertheless, a positive was that they treat the public respectfully and
fairly. These inspectorate reports are a good way to enable the police to
constantly work towards a goal and improve their results annually,
improving their effectiveness. However, a weakness of the police is that
there may be a lack of public trust. For example, the metropolitan police
were found to be institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic
(Casey Report 2023). This resulted in many people in the UK losing trust
for the police. This would make the police less effective as people may not
report some crime (hate crime) as they believe it will not be acted on
effectively. A further weakness is that funding for the police decreased
30% in just 5 years (2010-2015). As a consequence, from 2010 to 2018,
there was an 18% reduction in the total personnel (possibly stemming
from poor pay and a stressful workload due to a lack of resources). This
created a lack of availability for the police, which is a weakness. A final
weakness is that police can be incompetent during criminal investigations.
An example of this is Wembley Park (2020). During an investigation, the
police were found to have ‘taken selfies’ with dead bodies and share these
images to WhatsApp. This is highly disrespectful and grave misconduct,
portraying their level of expertise as low. A case study to support their low
level of expertise is the Stephen Lawrence case. Stepehn Lawrence was
murdered in 1993 by a well-known racist gang in the area. Upon arriving
at the scene, police officers did not secure the crime scene properly,
, Harrison Naylor
dismissed witness statements and did not chase blatant leads. When the
suspects were detained, they were all placed in the same holding cell, and
evidence taken was handled poorly leading to contamination. The killers
were not convicted until 20 years after the murder due to the lack of
expertise the Metropolitan police had. Also, the Macpherson report found
them institutionally racist and made 70 recommendations of improvement
for the Metropolitan police.
Scene of Crime Officer
Scene of crime officers collect and conserve evidence taken from crime
scenes. This evidence is documented and used in an investigation. They
can record the scene using photographs or videos, secure the crime scene
and are very meticulous. A strength of SOCOs (scene of crime officers) is
that they are available every hour of the week as they are on call. This is
an advantage as crime scenes are time sensitive. A second strength is
their salary. Scene of crime officers earn from £24,000 to £45,000
annually. Despite the importance of their job, this pay is relatively low.
Therefore, they are very cost effective. However, a weakness of scene of
crime officers is that may lack the expertise needed for the job. For
example, to become a scene of crime officer the only qualifications
needed is a combination of relevant GCSEs and degrees in sciences
(forensic science) are only beneficial. This is a weakness as not every
officer will have the same education. This could lead to inconsistencies
within results. Furthermore, another weakness is that as a result of the
low availability of scene of crime officers, individuals have a high workload
and could suffer from stress. In forensics, being accurate and articulate
are both essential to reach a strong verdict. This would lead to a lower
expertise as they would be more likely to make mistakes. A third
weakness is that evidence can be easily contaminated. This can happen
when proper procedure is not followed correctly. For example, DNA could
be mixed. If evidence is contaminated, the whole criminal investigation
could collapse as there would be no pure evidence of the suspect being
linked to the crime being investigated. The evidence would be declared
inadmissible. A real-life event to support this is the Amanda Knox case. In
2007, Meredith Kercher was murdered in Italy. In 2009, Amanda Knox was
convicted for the murder of Kercher, her roommate. However, in 2011 to
2015, her conviction was overturned, reinstated then acquitted by Italy’s
highest court. This was a result of the scene of crime officers poorly
carried out investigation of the crime scene. The evidence was handled
poorly, they wore a lack of proper protective gear (caps and masks), and
unreliable DNA was found on a knife. The lack of protective gear could
