3.31 Operation Soteria Bluestone (year 2)

Academic team: Dr Emma Williams, Richard Harding, Dr Nicky Miller, Dr Arun Sondhi, Dr Linda Maguire, Jennifer Norman, Rachel Ward, Liz Moody
Policing partners: Avon and Somerset Police, West Midlands Police, Metropolitan Police Service, Durham Police, South Wales Police, North Wales Police, Gwent Police, Dyfed-Powys Police, Northumbria Police, Gloucestershire Constabulary, Devon and Cornwall Police, Warwickshire Police, Lancashire Constabulary, Greater Manchester Police, Hampshire Constabulary, Wiltshire Police, Kent Police, Dorset Police and Sussex Police.
Status: Complete

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

TitleOutputs typeLead academicYear
Research highlights 'stress and pressures' among RASSO officersArticleSmith, C2023
Work, life, welfare and greedy organizationsConference PresentationMaguire, L2023
Transforming learning and wellbeing support for police officers who investigate rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO)Conference PresentationMaguire, L2023
Delivering effective learning in policingConference PresentationMiller, N2023
Understanding factors associated with burnout symptoms amongst investigators working on RASSO investigations in England and WalesJournal ArticleSondhi, A2023

News

Dr Kendal Wright and Dr Keely Duddin present research on maternity bias and stigma at the IRSPM conference

On 09 April, Kendal Wright and Dr Keely Duddin from the policing team and co-leads on a Parental Pathways research project, presented at the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) conference.

29th May 2025