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Drawing on the literature from the field and the recent experience of an evaluation into a child abuse investigation in Scotland, the purpose of this paper is to argue that evidence from the literature suggests that a more holistic approach drawing on the ideas of communities of practice could improve the way in which child abuse investigations are conducted.

This paper has been informed by a recent evaluation of a new national unit that was set up to investigate suspected child abuse in Scotland. This unit was established as part of the transition from eight regional police services in Scotland to a single national police service, Police Scotland. An important part of this evaluation was to consider the messages from previous research into the development of national police units and the role of the police in child protection investigations more generally.

What was uncovered were the challenges that police officers face in the current context of child abuse investigation particularly around construction of child abuse investigations, collaborative working, staff well-being and training.

The practical implications of this paper are as follows: police investigations into child abuse experience a range of issues, multi-agency and holistic approaches are more effective, agencies should be encouraged to establish communities of practice and staff need adequate levels of support and training.

This paper contributes towards a growing body of work examining the way in which child abuse investigations are conducted by police and the importance of inter-agency collaboration to support this. It contributes to academic debates and knowledge of the overall investigation process where, to date, there has been a paucity of literature and research that has tended to focus on evidence and experiences and to a boarder literature recognising the need for holistic approaches to tackle child abuse.

The purpose of the current study was two‐fold: to explore police officers' perceptions of the daily challenges involved in child abuse investigation and how those challenges affect their ability to undertake child abuse investigations, and to explore how these challenges are managed on a daily basis.

This study employed a qualitative research design. In‐depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 25 police officers working in child abuse units across three Australian states.

Inductive thematic analysis revealed that heavy caseload and collaboration with other professional groups are two key sources of negative work stress frequently associated with child abuse investigation. Further, despite the provision of organisational strategies aimed at reducing work stress, the officers tended to rely predominantly on informal coping mechanisms.

This study has raised many questions for further research aimed at developing interventions to assist police organisations in managing work stress.

This paper provides an in‐depth analysis of the key challenges associated with child abuse investigation and the coping mechanisms employed for overcoming these challenges from the unique perspective of police officers authorised to investigate child abuse.

The purpose of this paper was to examine law enforcement officers' perspectives on job stress and barriers to supportive resources when working child sexual abuse cases in a large southern state. It is well documented in the literature that professionals who work in healthcare, emergency services and law enforcement face tremendous amounts of stress and consequences to their physical and mental health. Little research has been done to examine how child sexual abuse investigations impact law enforcement, and how these specialized officers perceive access to supportive resources.

This qualitative study was part of a larger quantitative study and included 20 law enforcement officers who participated in anonymous, semi-structured phone interviews.

Findings included (1) child sexual abuse cases are difficult, specialized and disturbing (2) barriers to supportive resources include law enforcement culture, the stigma of asking for help, awareness and accessibility of resources and leadership as gatekeeper to the resources and (3) officers perceive both formal and informal resources to be helpful and at best should be proactively available to all officers in the state. A model of the findings was developed to illustrate the implications for practitioners and scholars.

This study was not without weaknesses, specifically the small number of participants, volunteer sampling does not represent the general population and the sampling technique means some demographics may have been missed by researchers.

This study adds to the literature on law enforcement mental health, occupational health and mental health resources. It confirms established research in the literature and provides insight into officer perspectives about barriers that prevent access to informal and formal supports that could improve their emotional well-being.

This study is the first of its kind, to our knowledge, that asks detectives and investigators of child abuse cases about mental health resources. These law enforcement officers are at high-risk for traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and burnout due to the specialized cases they investigate.

This paper aims to explore the effects of formal police organizational structure on child sexual abuse case attrition.

Data from two surveys were merged for this analysis: a 1988 survey of child abuse enforcement in US police departments, and the 1987 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) database produced by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Based on the structure‐performance link that is rooted in structural contingency theory, this study examines the effects of both global and specific structural features on two case disposition ratios. Because structure is more easily malleable than other factors that may affect performance, such as environment and context, it is important to know whether certain structural arrangements produce more desirable outcomes than others.

The results indicate that the global structural variables included in this analysis play a small role in child sexual abuse case attrition. None of the variables included in the model influence the rate at which cases are designated as “founded”. The size and height of police agencies and the rate at which they designate cases as founded both influence their arrest rates for child sexual abuse cases.

The small sample size made it difficult to estimate the models. Future research should test the findings reported here using larger samples.

To the author's knowledge this is the first study to compare the effects of global and specific structures on police outputs.

Police officers are exposed to a wide variety of stressors – frequently interacting with people at their worst moments and sometimes absorbing the trauma that victims experience themselves. Investigating sexual assaults reported by adults presents significant challenges given the often high levels of distress experienced by victims paired with the likelihood that no arrest will be made and the low conviction rates. Little research explores the impact this investigatory work has on the detectives who are assigned to these cases.

Using interviews conducted with 42 sexual assault detectives across six jurisdictions designed to understand sexual assault case attrition, the study enhances understanding of the effects of investigating crimes of sexual violence on detectives. Specifically, the aurhors explore their experiences within the context of burnout and secondary traumatic stress.

The current study clearly identifies the incidence of emotional symptoms among sexual assault investigators. During the course of interviews about their decision-making, detectives, unprompted by researchers, manifested symptoms of trauma resulting from their assigned caseloads.

Open-ended interviews offer a promising approach to exploring foundational questions.

Exposure to victims who have suffered the trauma of sexual assault can have a subsequent impact on the job performance and personal life of those who respond to victims in immediate crisis and to those who provide long-term assistance. A plan for future research is detailed to better pinpoint how and when these symptoms arise and interventions that may address their effects.

While there is a large literature detailing vicarious trauma for social workers, nurses and doctors, the topic is generally understudied among police officers and specifically detectives despite their repeated contacts with adult victims of violent crimes. This research builds upon the knowledge of burnout experienced by child maltreatment detectives to enhance understanding of sexual assault detectives.

The purpose of this study is to identify the nature and prevalence of workplace stressors faced by interviewers of child sexual assault victims.

Totally, 68 professionals (police and child protection workers) were invited to anonymously post their perceptions of workplace stressors on an internet forum as part of an investigative interviewing online training course. Specifically, participants were asked to reflect on salient sources of stress encountered in their role of interviewing sexually abused children.

Three key stressors were identified across the study's professional groups: inadequate recognition of specialised skills; high‐workload demands; and interagency tensions. Consistent with previous research, exposure to child‐abuse reports was not raised as a stressor.

The study generated suggestions for modifying management practices; however, future research should identify and trial strategies for improving workplace climate in child‐abuse investigation.

As the stressors isolated by participants related to workplace climate rather than exposure to victims’ accounts of child abuse, minimising negative consequences of work stressors requires changes to workplace culture and practice. Workplace climates need to be modified so that the demands are offset by resources.

Because of its online, anonymous nature, this was the first study to offer participants the opportunity to honestly disclose primary sources of stress in child‐abuse investigation. The research also makes a much‐needed contribution to an area of police practice that is vital yet often overlooked.

This paper aims to examine operational policing practice and child abuse. The paper acknowledges the influence second-wave feminism has had on police practice in terms of recognising and addressing this crime type. However, child abuse is mostly considered within the context of a single incident, with those children who suffer repeat and poly-victimisation being overlooked. As a consequence, the application of intersectionality as a theoretical framework to underpin practice is considered.

The paper adopts a case study approach. By doing so, an examination of operational policing practice with regard to child abuse takes place.

Feminism, as a theoretical framework, for informing practice has its limitations, in particular with regard to operational policing practice. This is illustrated through the crime type of child abuse. With the onset of work by scholars such as Finkelhor, the importance of recognising and dealing with those who suffer from repeat and multiple forms of victimisation has become apparent. As a consequence, the policing of repeat and poly-victimisation of child sexual abuse victims needs to be enhanced. Intersectionality is considered as being a theoretical framework that can inform police practice in this area of work.

The implications for practice are, namely, intersectionality has an important role to play in informing an understanding of child abuse. Intersectionality is an appropriate framework for the police to use to enhance their response to child abuse as the cornerstone of both Intersectionality and police practice is to redress unjust treatment. A targeted and consistent approach by police, education, health and community services to prevent child abuse informed by intersectionality. Building on the success of a number of police-led initiatives designed to address child abuse.

Much that is written about child abuse is typically done so through the lens of social work. This piece provides a timely reminder of the importance of policing in the prevention, disruption and reduction of this crime type. Further to this, the paper takes a novel approach by applying intersectionality not only as a means of understanding and addressing child abuse but as a means of informing police practice in dealing with the crime.

The parallels between child abuse and adult abuse have been frequently noted as public awareness of both has increased in recent decades. Both can involve the concealed victimisation of a weaker family member, for both interventions are difficult to implement because practitioners are loath to intrude into the privacy of the family and risk causing harm, and combating abuse of either type demands multi‐agency working. Significant differences between the two abuse constituencies have also been stressed, namely that adults are not invariably dependents reliant for care on the persons mistreating them and have the autonomy to resist efforts to intervene on their behalf.

The system in England and Wales involves a joint agency response to the sudden and unexpected death of a child (SUDC) and, for various reasons, the police contribution to that investigation is sometimes inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the dilemmas which explain this inadequacy.

The arguments presented in the paper are made on the basis of empirically derived findings, drawing from original research based upon qualitative interviews with nine senior detectives working in the areas of child abuse or major crime, as well as focus groups of senior detectives, and a limited contribution from pathologists.

This paper explores whether there is an investigative deficit in respect of potential child homicide when compared to an adult domestic homicide, and it concludes that in some areas the most vulnerable people in society may be at risk because of issues such as inadequate training, inflexible force policies and under-resourced police investigation of child death.

It is possible to kill a child and leave few, if any, physical clues on the body. To determine if homicide is the cause of death, the overall police investigation therefore has to be of high quality to identify any clues that have been left by the perpetrator at the scene or in other ways. It is usual for Child Abuse Investigation Unit detectives to investigate SUDC but they are often trying to do so with little training and few resources. Cuts to police service budgets since 2010 have affected all elements of policing, including Major Crime Teams. As a result, these teams are more discerning about which cases they take on and there is evidence they are not taking on child death investigations even if there are suspicions of homicide. The findings reveal important implications for police investigative training and a clear and significant deficit in the investigative resources available to the lead investigator on a SUDC investigation which may or may not be a homicide, compared with the resources available to the senior investigating officer on a straightforward domestic homicide when the victim is an adult. If homicide is missed, then siblings or future siblings with that family may be left at risk of harm. The College of Policing suggested standards for SUDC investigation are sometimes not being adhered to in respect of training and resources.

The paper is informed by original qualitative research conducted in 2019. The findings are of value to police policy makers, the College of Policing, and police senior leadership teams.

The purpose of this paper is to examine police officers' perceptions about their role in interviewing children, and to compare these perceptions with those of child eyewitness memory experts.

A diverse sample of 23 police officers (from three states of Australia) individually participated in in‐depth interviews where they were asked to define what makes a good interviewer in the area of child abuse investigation.

Irrespective of the background of the officers, the important role of interviewers' personal attributes was emphasised (e.g. having a relaxed, empathetic, warm nature). Such personal attributes were more prominent in the participants' descriptions than knowledge of legislation and children's development, prior job experience, and interviewing techniques.

The paper shows that while child eyewitness memory experts acknowledge the importance of establishing a bond of mutual trust between the interviewer and the child, the importance of utilising an open‐ended questioning style for enhancing rapport, and for eliciting a detailed and accurate account of abuse cannot be overstated. The possible reasons for the police officers' emphasis on personal qualities are discussed.

This paper has revealed that limitations in the competency of police officers in interviewing children is not merely a problem of “doing” (i.e. learning to ask open‐ended questions), but may also reflect ingrained attitudinal and organisational barriers.