History of decision-making

Abstract

The author looks back over 40 years of inquires and reviews of major police investigations such as The Yorkshire Ripper Case. The author identified 7 themes that run through 40 years of historical enquires, which are: Clarity and leadership among senior officers; Skills of SIOs; Systematic failures; Phasing of enquires; The role of the Major Incident Room; Information management; Individual investigative strategy failures. Past inquiries can help inform present or future investigative strategies by providing best practice and highlighting potential pitfalls. The role of the MIR and Holmes since the Yorkshire Ripper case illustrates the progress that has been made although in the case of the Harper, Maxwell and Hogg murders the suspect was not within the system. The issue of leadership among senior management teams and SIOs was discussed in the inquiries researched.