Date of Submission

8-13-2024

Document Type

DiP

Degree

Doctor of Education

Department

Education

Keywords

victim, mass victimization incident, victim-centred, adaptive leadership, ethical leadership, victim liaison officer

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly important for police departments to develop internal capacity to address the needs of crime victims who are affected by serious incidents such as active shooters or terrorist attacks. Supporting the family and friends of victims, witnesses and others affected by a tragic incident is a key function of the investigating police agency. Victims seek information and require support from police investigators through all phases of the response. This dissertation-in-practice addresses the lack of refined victim-centred practices in planning for, and responding to mass victimization incidents at the X Police Department (a pseudonym). Adaptive and ethical leadership approaches are applied to the problem and a blended change model tailored specially to policing helps outline and guide the change implementation plan. The analysis of the problem leads to the workable solution that involves the phased development of a victim liaison officer training program and related policy. The desired outcome is to increase the X Police Department’s capacity to respond to the needs of victims of mass victimization incidents by training 50 deployable victim liaison officers within twenty-four months. An internal stakeholder knowledge mobilization strategy and communication plan will help convey important information about the change to various audiences within the department. Monitoring the change process will be managed by a series of iterative PDSA cycles. Change will ultimately be evaluated via a formal evaluation plan based on policing best practices.

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