AC1.1- Evaluate the effectiveness of the roles of personnel involved in criminal
investigations.
Police Evaluation
A strength of the police is that they are very available, as there are officers working in
shifts 24/7. This is good as it means response times to reported crimes can be fast and
effective. There are 45 police forces in the UK, all including highly trained officers that
are effective in what they do and work extremely hard. Furthermore, that training offers
multiple specialised units such as the canine units, which uses dogs to smell for the
trace of a person or an object (such as drugs or other illegal substances), a display of
the varied expertise present in the police force. These specialised units can be
valuable tools in investigating and solving crimes, as in the case of the murder of Mike
O’Leary in January 2020, in which a canine unit was used to conduct multiple searches
both when they thought O’Leary was missing and when they knew they were looking for
a body. This investigation also involved many more specialised units that aided the
investigation.
However, a limitation of the police is the cost of running the institution as there are
many people involved. It has been said that last year, the cost of the police was £17.6
billion across the UK. Another limitation of the police is that there is a lot of public
distrust around the institution due to incidents like the case of Sarah Everard, who was
murdered by an officer who used his police powers to ‘arrest’ and then kidnap her. This
resulted in many protests from the public, and secured the common belief that the
police cannot always be trusted. This distrust can hinder the police’s effectiveness in
investigating crime as it means people may not give them all the information necessary
or may not feel comfortable reporting a crime.
Overall, the police are an effective institution, with a high availability and expertise, but
due to cases often occurring in which individual officers show they cannot be trusted,
the public have an increasing lack of trust for the whole organisation which can affect
how the police solve crimes.
SOCOs Evaluation
Strengths of SOCOs are that they are available 24/7, as they tend to work in a shift
pattern, doing about 40 hours a week- they can be called out to a scene at any time.
Furthermore, they have a high level of expertise, they are highly trained in order to do
their jobs. Mostly, people in this career have scientific degree such as biology or
chemistry, and because of this, their expertise is high which means they are reliable in
their role.
investigations.
Police Evaluation
A strength of the police is that they are very available, as there are officers working in
shifts 24/7. This is good as it means response times to reported crimes can be fast and
effective. There are 45 police forces in the UK, all including highly trained officers that
are effective in what they do and work extremely hard. Furthermore, that training offers
multiple specialised units such as the canine units, which uses dogs to smell for the
trace of a person or an object (such as drugs or other illegal substances), a display of
the varied expertise present in the police force. These specialised units can be
valuable tools in investigating and solving crimes, as in the case of the murder of Mike
O’Leary in January 2020, in which a canine unit was used to conduct multiple searches
both when they thought O’Leary was missing and when they knew they were looking for
a body. This investigation also involved many more specialised units that aided the
investigation.
However, a limitation of the police is the cost of running the institution as there are
many people involved. It has been said that last year, the cost of the police was £17.6
billion across the UK. Another limitation of the police is that there is a lot of public
distrust around the institution due to incidents like the case of Sarah Everard, who was
murdered by an officer who used his police powers to ‘arrest’ and then kidnap her. This
resulted in many protests from the public, and secured the common belief that the
police cannot always be trusted. This distrust can hinder the police’s effectiveness in
investigating crime as it means people may not give them all the information necessary
or may not feel comfortable reporting a crime.
Overall, the police are an effective institution, with a high availability and expertise, but
due to cases often occurring in which individual officers show they cannot be trusted,
the public have an increasing lack of trust for the whole organisation which can affect
how the police solve crimes.
SOCOs Evaluation
Strengths of SOCOs are that they are available 24/7, as they tend to work in a shift
pattern, doing about 40 hours a week- they can be called out to a scene at any time.
Furthermore, they have a high level of expertise, they are highly trained in order to do
their jobs. Mostly, people in this career have scientific degree such as biology or
chemistry, and because of this, their expertise is high which means they are reliable in
their role.
