ANALYSIS: Victim and witness statements can play a vital role in shaping an investigation, but new research from Dr Cody Porter of the University of the West of England and Dr Mircea Zloteanu of King’s College London suggest that the emotionality of witnesses can unintentionally mislead decision-makers including police officers, especially when filtered through unconscious gendered expectations.

ANALYSIS: With police officers in the UK and Ireland operating under immense pressures, University of the West of England Senior Lecturers Dr Cody Porter and Dr Paul Gavin share findings from their recent research projects into specific sources of stress and its profound impacts on officers’ mental health in both jurisdictions, and call for a shift in the way mental health is treated – “not as an afterthought, but as an operational priority”.