The impact of trauma-awareness session on police officers’ trauma-informed attitudes in Scotland

Abstract

Following reports that up to 80% of calls received by police in Scotland concern vulnerability issues, adoption of trauma-informed policing has taken priority. This is the first evaluation of the impact of a brief trauma-awareness training session on police officers’ trauma-informed attitudes. Participants from two Scottish police divisions–one who had been exposed to trauma-awareness training (n = 62) and one who had not (n = 91)–completed self-report questionnaires on their trauma-informed attitudes. Officers displayed more positive trauma-informed attitudes towards victims/witnesses than suspects/perpetrators (p