Operation Soteria was launched as a change programme in June 2021 within Avon and Somerset Police after Home Office funded research into the investigation of rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) reaching charge, and the criminal justice system as a whole. Combining practitioner knowledge with academic research it aimed to provide transformational change to support all police forces and has led to developing a national operating model from July 2023.Detective Superintendent Heather Wilson, West Yorkshire Police's Strategic Lead for Violence against Women and Girls (VaWG) and Operation Soteria joins us in this episode to give insight into the challenges, progress, and future landscape of this changing game to transform the investigative approach and the policing service to victims.

This episode looks at higher education and policing where officers in England and Wales now join the police with a degree, gain a degree on joining, or even join and not gain any formal qualifications. Tom Andrews, former police sergeant and officer for 13 years and now Lecturer in Policing from the University of Derby joins us to discuss the origins, the politics, and the current landscape of the policing degree discussion. Researched and published in this subject area, Tom has widely spoken on social media about degrees in policing and tells all there is about the benefits of higher education for police officers, what the critics rhetoric is on the subject, and that it’s perhaps the ‘Degree’ word that might be the issue. For those on the policing degree entry routes, thinking of joining the police on one, or cynical of police officers now undergoing higher education the evidence base is here adding to the call for the professionalisation of policing in the UK. We've added a poll to see what our listeners thoughts are after they have listened to the episode.

The first podcast from The School of Criminology, Investigation, and Policing at Leeds Trinity University.  In this episode former West Yorkshire Police officer and Channel 5 'Interceptor'  Ben Pearson joins us to discuss his rollercoaster journey from TC Pearson to household television name, and the impact that the media attention had. Openly candid about his experience Ben tells the full story and where it hit rock bottom, and why. Coming back from this life changing experience we get an insight to the inspirational work that Ben is now involved with as part of his charity '1965'. This is the first episode of monthly podcasts being produced by the School of Criminology, Investigation, and Policing at Leeds Trinity University.