This presentation discusses the author’s work as an independent member of Lincolnshire Police’s Ethics Panel. Ethics Panels are a relatively new innovation initiated across a number of police services up and down the UK. Their specific terms of reference vary, but generally they share the a common purpose of providing a space for police to discuss and develop guidelines around issues for which there is traditionally no forum within policing – ideally with outside stakeholders giving a non-police view – with the intention of developing ethical approaches to such issues. In this presentation I will discuss my work sitting on Lincolnshire Police’s Ethics panel and in particular how my research concerning victimisation and the role of victims within the criminal justice process assisted the police through this forum to develop updated policies on issues such as: membership of police officers in the Masons and other ‘secret’ organisations, the policing of Roma and Traveller Populations and the response of the police to officer-to-officer disclosure of domestic abuse victimisation.
Prof Matthew Hall, Lincoln Law School