1. ‘Marginal Gains’ Improving police engagement with young people in need of a safeguarding response CSE and Policing Knowledge Hub
Keeley Howard, DI Ivon Beer & Dr Fiona Factor
Police Knowledge Fund Showcase
College of Policing
Fiona to introduce us all
There were a number of activities undertaken by the CSEPKH – this aspect was the element of the project which wanted to ensure that young people had a voice in the process

2. Fiona - Messages from research that we knew
Following a number of workshops with experts by experience from around the county Experts identified top 3 themes to work on
Being respectful and non-judgemental
Demonstrating empathy and compassion
Effectively eliciting and responding to young people’s accounts
I decided that rather than just talking about what needed to change, we needed to model the change – how better than bringing police together with the young people who’ve had direct experience of police involvement? I planned a residential weekend in the Lake District and began recruiting willing participants

3. Feelings about participating - Hopes:
“To support each other”
For the police to “change things when they go back”
“Learning from each other’s’ experiences”
“Hear everyone’s side- both adult and young person”
“Good to see a police officer a bit more loose”- they’re quite scary normally
“We are police officers, but we are also people. I want the young people to see the human aspect”
To make a difference: That change comes as a result of the project and that young people have a better experience when in contact with police
If we help now then it will be less bad later on: young people will know their rights; police will know law; police will talk to young people in a calm way
Police to think about how they investigate, understand their role
Both police and experts were asked to prepare by sharing their hopes and expectations of the weekend together.
There were quite a few expectations of the weekend as you can see from the slide above and an overwhelming sense of let’s be respectful and listen to each other so we can address the problems we know about.

4. Feelings about participating - Concerns:
Hoping that “communication does not break down”
That we are “unable to interact with each other because we have different views”
Discrimination about how you look or talk
Police being in control – or holding the power
Barriers between police and young people - them v’s us
Police may not listen - that they will be judgemental.
Young people behaving poorly – it might reflect on other young people and police view
Police might not read what we produce or listen or change
Only short term change - just paying lip service
There were of course also a number of concerns about bringing unknown groups together in a strange environment in this way, colleagues thought I was absolutely bonkers! I spent a lot of time filling in risk assessment forms.
For the young people there was a strong fear about being judged – but this sentiment was also shared by the police
The main theme here was about the project not making any difference and that nothing would change

5. Lake Windermere - October 2016
So in October of us from around the country headed to Lake Windermere for the weekend.
7 police officers from the Met, GMP, and Cumbria,
12 Experts by Experience (EBE) from London, Birmingham, Cambridgeshire and Derby.
3 project workers, 4 staff from University of Bedfordshire & 2 Brathay instructors

6. Co-production?
1. What were the key areas of learning for you from working together in this collaborative way?
2.  What were the key challenges?
3. What made it work?
4.  What was the impact of this project on you
Personally,
Professionally, and
Organisationally?
I asked Keeley and Ivon to reflect on the journey we’ve taken since the residential and address these questions about what made this particular co-production so successful

7. Key messages for successful co-production
The right question or issue – shared ownership
The right people/stakeholders - shared commitment and willing to take risks/give up power and time.
Appropriate facilitation methods
Solution-focussed – don’t dwell on the problem
See young people as part of the solution
Plan for legacy
Between the residential and project end in March 2017 there was huge energy devoted by everyone into creating real legacy outputs to avoid the dangers identified at the outset that nothing would change. Everyone bought into continuing on from the residential to complete the project and spent hours travelling around the country to get the task completed in a thorough collaborative way.

8. The legacy outputs
A poster for all police stations/custody suites (2000)
A film for use in training new police recruits
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Dissemination of messages at research forums and conferences across the country
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