Learning the Lessons - Making the magazine

In our first Learning the Lessons related blog post we wanted to give some insight into how we produce the magazine and answer some of the questions that readers typically ask us.  

Let's start with the basics - What is the Learning the Lessons magazine?

Since 2007 we have worked with a range of policing organisations to share learning coming from the complaint/misconduct cases we and police force professional standards department investigate. Our aim is to produce a magazine for use by a wide range of people working in, or with an interest in, policing that helps to drive improvement in policing and which helps to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

Each issue contains a series of anonymised case studies, together with a series of questions targeted at policy makers/managers and police officers/staff, designed to help them unpick the learning each case contains.

In March 2018 we started adding a range of new features to the magazine, we use this new content to:

• Provide an insight into stakeholder or service user perspectives

• Build on, or unpick, issues featured in the case studies

• Signpost related training, guidance or research

• Showcase good practice in place within other forces or organisations

• Signpost other work being undertaken by the IOPC

• Introduce forthcoming developments in legislation, guidance or practice.

How do you select the cases?

The topics covered in the magazine align with the thematic areas set out in the IOPC’s strategic plan. At the moment we’re focusing on:

• discrimination

• mental health

• road traffic incidents

• domestic abuse

• abuse of authority for sexual/financial gain

• near misses in custody.

Readers of the magazine are regularly given the opportunity to vote for the topics they’d like to see covered in future issues – and mental health and custody are two of the themes they’ve voted for recently, which we’ll be covering in issues 34 (January 2019) and 35 (March 2019) respectively.

We only use cases in the magazine where all linked proceedings such as parallel criminal proceedings, inquests, discipline and misconduct hearings are complete.

Does it make a difference?

We have some good evidence that the magazine is being used to improve police practice. In our regular feedback surveys, which we ask readers to complete about each issue, respondents tend to tell us that their forces consider the issues raised in the magazine at senior management level, and that tasks are passed to relevant teams for action with force policies or training changed where necessary. In our feedback survey for issue 32, 85% of respondents told us that the magazine was a useful tool in helping to drive change in police policy or practice.

How has the magazine changed over time?

Early issues started with basic summaries of each case, a list of recommendations made in the corresponding IPCC investigation and a summary of the action taken by the force in response. Over time, we’ve made some changes in response to feedback from our readers.

In February 2010, we introduced questions for policy makers/managers and police officers/staff alongside each case in the magazine. The questions direct readers to the key learning points included in each case and encourage them to reflect on their local practice so they can establish whether they need to make any changes. In our feedback survey for issue 32, 93% of respondents agreed that questions help them to identify the key learning points.

In August 2012, we started including information about what happened to the police officers and staff involved in the cases we feature. Some have argued that inclusion of this information shifts the focus from learning to blame. In our feedback survey for issue 32, 96% of respondents (who are primarily police officers) told us that this information about outcomes helped them to understand the consequences of actions taken and decisions made. And 89% said we should continue to include it in the magazine.

In March 2015, the College of Policing started producing an annex to accompany each issue. This signposts readers to the training standards and learning resources associated with each case and helps police officers and staff develop their knowledge of the issues featured in the magazine. After this addition to the magazine, 81% of those responding to our feedback survey said they found it useful. The College continues to produce this information for each issue – you can find it along with the other background documents on our website.

In October 2015, we introduced a series of icons to be used alongside each case. The icons broadly align to Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and allow readers to identity quickly the specific topic/s covered in each case. 79% of respondents to our feedback survey agreed that the icons make it easier for forces to act on the learning the magazine contains.

March 2018 saw us launch a rebranded Learning the Lessons in a new magazine style format, the first issue we published as the IOPC. The new look was designed to improve readability and also provided us with an opportunity to feature non-case-related content for the first time. Including supporting articles allows us to:

• provide an insight into stakeholder or service user perspectives

• build on, or unpick, issues featured in the case studies

• signpost readers to relevant training, guidance or research

• showcase good practice in place within other forces or organisations

• signpost other work that we’re carrying out

• introduce forthcoming developments in legislation, guidance or practice.

90% of respondents to the issue 32 feedback survey told us that the articles complement the cases featured in the magazine. If you’ve got an idea for an article you’d like to see featured in a future issue, we’d love to hear from you – please get in touch.

In November 2018 we launched a new virtual panel, bringing together a range of stakeholders from the world of policing, the community and voluntary sector and academia, to support the development of future issues of Learning the Lessons. If you’re interested in joining the panel, please complete our online registration form to register your interest. Panel members will be invited to review and provide feedback on drafts around six to eight weeks before publication.

How do you consult people on the drafts before they are published?

If the case we’re using is based on an IOPC investigation we check the materials we’ve drafted with the IOPC investigators or casework managers who worked on the case. Then we share drafts with heads of PSDs – we’re always keen to hear about actions/improvements that forces have introduced after our investigations.

After this, we move on to external consultation – members of the College of Policing’s high potential development scheme and the Learning the Lessons development panel are invited to review drafts. They provide a valuable sense check, and feedback on how the drafts could be developed so they work better for a frontline policing audience.

Next we move on to checks with our key stakeholder review team, which includes representatives of the College of Policing, the NPCC, HMICFRS, the Home Office, and the Police Federation and Police Superintendents’ Association. These contributors help us to understand whether any recent changes mean that some of the cases are now less relevant to the police service. This could be because of recent or planned changes to legislation, guidance or practice. They also help us to ensure that we’re signposting any relevant sections of Authorised Professional Practice (APP), research or training materials that officers might find useful.

At each stage of the process we’re developing and refining drafts to ensure we produce a product that helps to drive improvement in policing. Typically, it takes us about six months to develop each edition of the magazine, from finding cases to publishing the finished product. Our goal is to help prevent a recurrence of similar incidents It’s a long journey to develop each issue, but we think it’s really important to spend time developing a product that makes a difference to policing.

What methods do you use to publicise and promote Learning the Lessons?

Each edition is published on our website and we promote it via our Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. We share each issue with a range of key policing stakeholders (including chief constables, heads of professional standards departments, force learning and development leads, police and crime commissioners). Issues are uploaded to the Police Online Knowledge Area (POLKA) and shared with relevant subject matter communities to encourage discussion and debate. Where an issue relates to a specific theme, we also search for relevant policing leads or community and voluntary sector groups that could benefit from the learning. Hard copies of each issue are also published in Police Professional, a weekly printed and online resource for UK law enforcement and shared via a number of other digital publications. We also share each issue with people who have asked to be added to our mailing list – you can join our mailing list be emailing us. We also attend regular conferences and events to help share learning across the police service.

Here’s the team at our stand at the 2018 Police Federation Conference.

Why are all the logos on the front cover?

We work closely with each of the organisations listed on the front cover (the College of Policing, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the Home Office, the Police Federation, and the Police Superintendents’ Association) to develop the magazine. Representatives of each of these organisations feed into the development of each issue to help us ensure that the issues are relevant for the police service, and reflect current guidance and thinking around good practice.