The Role of the Supervisor & Manager

National, Regional & Local Policing Strategies and the impact on Investigation Teams

Management styles and the investigative team including investigative management principles

Introduction to strategy development, policy recording and decision making

Managing resilience and wellbeing and developing effective team working

Resource planning for effective outcomes

The Management of Risk and Victim Care

Evaluation and management of threat risk and harm

Witness care in complex investigation including consent, victims code and achieving best evidence guidelines

The impact of digital media in investigations

The personal and organisational principles of digital hygiene

The use of communications data and internet intelligence to support investigations

Supervision and management of authorities in digital investigations

Recovering digital data from third part service providers



Information & Intelligence

Partnership working and effective intelligence collaboration

Intelligence strategy and the management of risk



Working with criminal justice processes within investigation

The link between the criminal justice process and investigative strategy

The auditable recording of decisions and strategy

Investigative management and the disclosure process

Case file management including charging decisions and case building

The written blog will address all four learning outcomes by way of a critical blog of a case study or theme of the student’s choice. The case study or theme will include a critical analysis of the management in terms of legislation and policy, and the role of the supervisor or manager with a focus on victims and witnesses, digital investigations, the associated risk management considerations and issues of fairness, diversity and inclusion relevant to the topics within the blog.

Students will respond to 2 other student’s blogs with the blog owner then providing a reply. Students will be expected to critically engage with further research into the thematic areas identified in the learning outcomes and expand their understanding of the content of the module. The blog will include in-depth critical engagement of the issues, including those arising from the responses received.

Demonstrate a critical understanding of the role of the supervisor and manager and critically review the impact management has on threat, harm, and risk.

Critically analyse the management of legislation policy and processes in relation to victims, witnesses.

Critically evaluate the management of information and intelligence, and the management of digital media within investigations.

Critically reflect upon the issues of fairness, diversity, and inclusion within the management of serious and complex investigation.

The module is delivered by way of online lectures (synchronous and asynchronous), which provides students with an overview of the supervision and management of investigation with a focus on theory and investigative practice.

Detailed pre-reading will be required before taught sessions, and students will be supervised as they seek to develop ideas for their Independent Studies. The module will use a flipped learning approach from the outset which will encourage the students in the self-directed aspect of the learning in this module. Pre -reading, pre lecture study and pre lecture tasks will be a key feature of the flipped learning approach.

The lecture sessions will provide practically based scenario examples which will allow for group tasks for formative feedback.

de Maillard, J. and Savage, S.P., 2022. Performance mechanisms meet professional autonomy: performance management and professional discretion within police investigation departments. Policing and Society, 32(2), pp.145-158.

Edwards, J. (2021) 'No title', Practitioner Perspectives of the Utility of the National Decision Model in Relation to Criminal Investigations and Response Policing,

Fenton-O’Creevy, M., Miller, N., Selby-Fell, H. and Bowles, B. (2022) 'Policing Uncertainty, Decisions and Actions in a National Emergency', .

Fisher, R. (2021). THRIVE. [online] West Midlands Police. Available at: https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/THRIVE.pdf. [Accessed 18th January 2023]

GOV.UK. (n.d.). Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/attorney-generals-guidelines-on-disclosure. [Accessed 17th January 2023]

Major Incident Room Standardised Administrative Procedures (MIRSAP 2021) Document information. (2021). [online] Available at: https://library.college.police.uk/docs/NPCC/MIRSAP_V1_Nov_2021.pdf. [Accessed 17th January 2023]

Johnston, E., 2020. The rise of managerialism: The impact of swift and (un) sure justice on disclosure in criminal proceedings. In The Law of Disclosure: A Perennial Problem in Criminal Justice. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Live.com. (2022). [online] Available at: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F1101319%2FMAPPA_Guidance_May_22__002_.docx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK. [Accessed 18th January 2023]¿

Ministry of Justice (2020). Code of Practice for Victims of Crime in. [online] Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/974376/victims-code-2020.pdf. [Accessed 18th January 2023]

Ministry of Justice (2022). Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance on Interviewing Victims and Witnesses, and Guidance on Using Special Measures Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance on Interviewing Victims and Witnesses, and Guidance on Using Special Measures. [online] Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1051269/achieving-best-evidence-criminal-proceedings.pdf. [Accessed 18th January 2023]

Myhill, A. and Hohl, K., 2019. The “golden thread”: Coercive control and risk assessment for domestic violence. Journal of interpersonal violence, 34(21-22), pp.4477-4497.

National Crime Agency (2021). National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime. (2021). [online] Available at: https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/533-national-strategic-assessment-of-serious-and-organised-crime-2021/file. [Accessed 8th December 2022]

NATIONAL POLICING DIGITAL STRATEGY. (2020). [online] Available at: https://pds.police.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/National-Policing-Digital-Strategy-2020-2030.pdf. [Accessed 17th January 2023]¿

NPCC Homicide Working Group (2021).¿Major Crime Investigation Manual (MCIM 2021) Document information. [online] Available at: https://library.college.police.uk/docs/NPCC/Major-Crime-Investigation-Manual-Nov-2021.pdf. [Accessed 8th December 2022]

NPCC (2016).¿Policing Vision 2025. [online] Available at: https://www.npcc.police.uk/documents/Policing%20Vision.pdf. [Accessed 8th December 2022]

Phythian, R., Birdsall, N., Kirby, S., Cooper, E., Posner, Z. and Boulton, L., 2022. Developments in UK police wellbeing: A review of blue light wellbeing frameworks. The Police Journal, 95(1), pp.24-49.

Smith, R., 2019. The ‘Police Change Manager’: Exploring a new leadership paradigm for policing. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 21(3), pp.156-167.

The Strategic Policing Requirement. (2015). [online] Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/417116/The_Strategic_Policing_Requirement.pdf. (Accessed on 8th December 2022)¿

During this module, you will be encouraged to utilise Microsoft Teams and Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to support your learning. You will be invited to collaborate with students and academic staff virtually through Microsoft Teams. You will have access to a range of materials on Blackboard VLE including articles, lecture slides, and interactive activities. You will also be able to access a variety of digital material through our¿Library¿and¿specialist¿databases.¿

In this module you will build on your previous academic and / or operational experience of serious and complex investigations and take the opportunity to research and critically evaluate the management of serious and complex investigations. You will address the role of supervision and management in investigations along with in depth evaluation of strategies to deal with the management of victims and witnesses, public protection investigation, working with the criminal justice system and specialists, and digital media issues. Your skills in critical engagement with these broad themes will be expanded and along with your own research built into the assessment for the module.